Th e sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone and increased pressures for 'structural reform' have led to a period of intensive change in labour market policy in Southern Europe. Examining the cases of Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy, this article focuses on the security of labour market insiders, a key group in labour markets that is highly segmented. Th e security of labour market insiders is conceptualised as consisting of security in employment (protection against dismissals) and security in unemployment (protection against drops in income provided by unemployment insurance and assistance). Using changes in national laws, the article charts and compares labour market change along these two dimensions across these four Southern European countries. Because labour

Beyond Empires explores the complexity of empire building from the point of view of self-organized networks, rather than from the point of view of the central state. This focus takes readers into a world of cooperative strategies worldwide that emphasises the role played by individuals, rather than institutions, in the overseas expansion and consequent development of European empires. While unveiling the practices and mechanisms of cooperation between individuals, this volume show cases the role played by individuals for the creation, development and maintenance of selforganized networks in the Early Modern period. Applying new conceptual and theoretical inputs, this book values the contributions of di ferent 'worlds' , bringing to the fore the interactions of Europeans and non-Europeans, Christians and non-Christians, people living within-, on-or just outside the border of empire. Readership This book is meant for MA and graduate students interested in Empire as well as specialists on empire building and Early Modern history. For more information see brill.com

This special issue explains how and why European maritime powers resorted to ship repair and shipbuilding overseas, and how these activities, in multiple ways, justify a re-evaluation of the global impact of shipbuilding worldwide and the influence it had in defining overseas empires. The explanation and further considerations in the core articles examining the Dutch experience of shipbuilding and ship repairs overseas, in both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, are based on original research, in which the Dutch experience is positioned in relation to what is known for the French, the English/British, the Portuguese and the Spanish empires. Rather, however, than aiming at a comparative approach to this subject, the goal of these articles is to produce a baseline of information that may lie at the core of future research in specific areas of the world, across different empires, or between regions in the same empire.

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1 Williams argued for a link between capital accumulation from the slave trade and the British Industrial Revolution and for a connection between the growth of industrial capitalism and abolitionist ideas. For Williams, capital accumulation from the slave trade and the plantation economy had helped finance the Industrial Revolution. When industrial capitalism became the engine of economic growth in Great Britain, he argued, the plantation complex and associated slave trade became secondary in the priorities of entrepreneurs and state officials. For these reasons, the development of an abolitionist movement was deeply ingrained in the rise of industrial capitalism. 2 The debate around Williams' proposal ensued in the 1960s and 1970s, but it gained new strength with the new approaches of the