This paper compares the interconnections between dominant economic thought and processes of policy-making in the area of labour market reforms in Germany in the late 1960s and the early 2000s. The transition in labour market policies in this period could be described as a change from an active to an activating approach. At the level of economic discourse these policy changes correspond to a paradigm shift from Keynesian to neoclassical/neoliberal economic thought. We investigated these changes by focussing on two distinct reforms of labour market policies and carried out a critical discourse analysis of the relevant public and academic discourse of economists. We find that the paradigm shift in economic thought was accompanied by a shift in economists' discourses on labour market policy issues.

Translation of the Bible or any other text unavoidably involves a determination about its meaning. There have been different views of meaning from ancient times up to the present, and a particularly Enlightenment and Modernist view is that the meaning of a text amounts to whatever the original author of the text intended it to be. This article analyzes the authorial-intent view of meaning in comparison with other models of literary and legal interpretation. Texts are anchors to interpretation but are subject to individualized interpretations. It is texts that are translated, not intentions. The challenge to the translator is to negotiate the meaning of a text and try to choose the most salient and appropriate interpretation as a basis for bringing the text to a new audience through translation.

This article introduces a distinctive approach in the field of policy studies. In so doing, it attempts to show how functional change and policy change are mediated through discursive change. For this purpose, the hypothesis of a re-orientation of state functions in the transition from Fordism to Post-Fordism is introduced and further investigated by re-conceptualising it as a policy change in the field of labour market policies (LMPs). By focusing on two case studies regarding the implementation of active and activating LMPs, I will take a closer look at the adoption of these approaches in Germany. More precisely, the associated political discourse is examined in order to highlight the accompanying ‘economic imaginaries’ and their role in legitimising the aforementioned approaches. I find that such discursive changes are of crucial importance since they represent competing guidelines for political actors in search of solutions to emerging problems.

The article argues that these supportive practices have to be assessed on one hand against the background of the multiple crises of the trade union movement. Hence, we identified strategies predominantly associated with the traditional service model, which aims at organizing migrant workers. On the other hand, from the perspective of the power resource approach those supportive practices can be seen as part of a broader strategy of union revitalization, which is aiming at consolidating the strength of trade unions by strengthening the associational power of migrant workers.

In jüngster Zeit wurde auf internationaler Ebene ebenso wie in verschiedenen Ländern eine Vielzahl alternativer Indikatoren gesellschaftlichen Wohlstands und Fortschritts entwickelt. Den Ausgangspunkt bildete eine Kritik des Bruttoinlandsprodukts (BIP) als vermeintlich aussagekräftiger Wohlstandsindikator. Alternative Indikatoren sollen dabei Fortschritte und Probleme der Realisierung sozialer und ökologischer Nachhaltigkeit sowie unterschiedliche Dimensionen von Lebensqualität abbilden. Entsprechend können sie als Einsatzpunkte für ein sozial-ökologisch erweitertes Wohlstandsverständnis bzw. für eine lebensqualitäts- und wohlstandsorientierte Politik betrachtet werden, mit der die Orientierung an Wachstum und Wettbewerbsfähigkeit infrage gestellt werden kann. Doch obschon zahlreiche (Kollektiv-)Akteure über solche Kennzahlen verfügen, ist ihr politischer Impact bislang beschränkt. Mittels einer interpretativen Policy-Analyse geht es in diesem Beitrag um strategische Möglichkeiten einer besseren institutionellen Verankerung sozial und ökologisch nachhaltiger Wirtschafts- und Gesellschaftspolitik in Österreich.