By analysing pension reforms in three Nordic countries -Denmark, Finland and Sweden -that apply different institutional solutions in their old-age security programmes, this article argues that the political processes that shaped the country-specific pension set-ups in the 1950s and 1960s had important ramifications for subsequent reform possibilities. A high degree of inertia exists not only in the institutions themselves but also in the political reform options and the ways in which pensions were reformed. The analysis shows that the 'new politics' was not new in any of the three countries. Furthermore, given the differences in the three cases, the analysis questions the nature of pension reform. The Swedish reform in the late 1990s was a 'big bang' that eliminated the old and changed everything; the Finns built on piecemeal reforms of conversion that gradually changed the whole system; and, while the Danish story appears to be one of stability and status quo, the drift of Danish policy ultimately changed the basic characteristics of the system. Although all three countries have more or less thoroughly reformed their pensions, the reform processes have differed according to both historical legacies and institutional frameworks.

Dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) source areas containing chlorinated volatile organic compounds (cVOCs) such as trichloroethene (TCE) and perchloroethene (PCE) often give rise to significant dissolved plumes in groundwater, leading to the closure of downgradient water supply wells and creating vapor intrusion issues in buildings located above the plume. Hydraulic containment via pump‐and‐treat has often been implemented to limit migration but must continue indefinitely. Removal of the DNAPL source area by means such as in situ thermal remediation (ISTR) offers the potential to diminish or end the need for hydraulic containment if the associated dissolved plume attenuates sufficiently following source removal. A question often raised is whether this occurs or whether the back diffusion of contaminants from secondary sources such as low‐permeability lenses in the dissolved plume precludes it. The authors conducted DNAPL source removal using ISTR at dozens of sites. This paper presents a compilation of cases—10 separate DNAPL source areas at five project sites—where data indicate that the implementation of a thorough ISTR in a DNAPL source area can result in the attenuation of the associated dissolved plume, such that in several cases, long‐standing pump‐and‐treat systems could be turned off. Our findings contrast with recent assertions that aggressive source remediation may not be justifiable because dissolved plume concentrations will not decline sufficiently. We show that the application of ISTR can result in the thorough removal of the DNAPL source, effective diminution of dissolved plume groundwater concentrations, and achievement of drinking water standards.

This paper is about the most recent reforms of cash benefit systems and the sociopolitical debate in eight European countries. The welfare state and the social security system rank high on the political agenda. After many years of economic crisis, with increasingly widespread unemployment and changed family patterns, the welfare system that developed in most western European countries since the end of the Second World War is the focus of attention. In a world of increasing international trade, with competition from countries — in eastern Europe and Asia as well as the United States — which have not developed such comprehensive systems of social security, one of the main issues in the debate is whether western Europe can afford to maintain welfare at the existing level, or whether it is necessary to make fundamental changes. But the discussion also centres on what can be called the welfare state's own internal problems.

Danish labour market policies and the Danish flexicurity model were feted during the 1990s when active labour market policies combined with economic policies were able to revitalize the Danish economy and to reduce unemployment from 12.0 per cent to 1.4 per cent by mid-2008. This article explains the background for this development, explains the major features of the Danish flexicurity model, and uses this to explain recent reform developments in Denmark. Investing in people and decentralization of the implementation of policies are important features of the relative success of Denmark's policies. The importance of taking the individual's competences and labour market experience into consideration as well as the importance of adapting active labour market polices to needs in the local labour market are lessons to be drawn from policy developments in Denmark. The article underlines that Denmark's policies are seen as structural policies that seek to adapt structures in the labour market, social benefit system and educational system to future challengesand that for structural policies to be successful their timing with economic policies is important. This timing is thought to have been successful the 1990s, but it remains to be seen if this has been so in relation to the most recent reforms.

Pension reform in Denmark in the 1990s is of general interestowing to the development of a system of funded, defined contribution pension schemes based on collective agreement between the parties in the labour market. The resulting pension system seems to hold some answers to the critique of funded pension schemes. This paper analyses the process which led to the 1991 pension reform and relates the discussions and solutions found in Denmark to the international debate on pension reform.C on trary to what is nor mally seen in descrip tions and anal y sis of the Nordic wel fare model, this paper deals with the fact that for a num ber of rea sons, Den mark, com pared with other Nordic and Euro pean coun tries, has been a late comer in the cre ation of a com pre hen sive old-age pen sion scheme. 1 Pen sion reform has been high on the agenda of wel fare reform in many coun tries, for more than 15 years. Owing to demo graphic devel op ments numer ous coun tries in the 1990s strug gled with reform to make their pension sys tem finan cially sus tain able. For many of them the strug gle has not ended. Den mark is fac ing the same chal lenges as other coun tries in this area of the welfare state. © In ter na tional So cial Se cu rity As so cia tion, 2003 In ter na tional So cial Se cu rity Re view, Vol. 56, 2/2003 Pub lished by Blackwell Pub lish ing 65 This pa per is part of a pro ject sup ported by the Dan ish So cial Sci ence Re search Coun cil and the Dan ish Na tional In sti tute of So cial Re search. With out the help of my re search as sis tants Mette Bastholm, Ulla Andersen and Dorte Boesby I would not have been able to work con tin u ously on the pro ject. My col leagues at the Cen tre for Wel fare State Re search Jon Kvist and Hans Hansen have gen er ously lis tened to sug ges tions and ques tions dur ing the pro cess. Di rec tor Gen eral Torben Möger Petersen from PensionDanmark has most gen er ously given me ac cess to data on Dan ish oc cu pa tional pen sion funds and also com mented on an ear lier draft of the pa per. The Rob ert Schumann Cen tre at the Eu ro pean Uni ver sity In sti tute in Flor ence pro vided me with an of fice dur ing the sum mer of 1999, en abling me to con cen trate on the pro ject for a lon ger time. Fi nally, my sec re tary Lotte Rener has tried to cor rect my Eng lish. But as al ways, er rors and omis sions can only be blamed on me. 1. A descrip tion of the Dan ish pen sion case is found in qverbye (1996).