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The German discourse on the future role of the state is currently at the turn of the millennium is dominated by the joint paper by Tony Blair and Gerhard Schro�der, 'Europe: The Third Way/Die Neue Mitte' (Blair & Schroüder 1999). Using the crisis of the post-war Fordist mode of regulation as a background, various concepts of the restructuring of the State and society are discussed. This paper intends to show that the prevailing dominant social democratic restructuring discourse is rooted in a number of important elements in preceding conservative and neo-liberal discourses about the future of society and the State. The notion of desolidarisation is identified as the common denominator of conservative and neo-liberal approaches as well as the 'Third Way' ("Neue Mitte"). To cope with growing social inequality it is argued that only a new European political project that re-animates solidarity and sustainability is viable. Copyright Royal Dutch Geographical Society 2000.

Labour market development in the logistics sector. Importance, dynamics and (de-)regulation of the distribution economy. Deregulation and innovation in commercial and industrial transportation, warehousing and distribution led to the rise of a modern logistics sector. Both for Germany and the US scholars have argued that expanding logistics services help to compensate for the decline in manufacturing employment. An examination of national employment statistics to the contrary shows logistics employment to be in absolute (Germany) or relative (US) decline. While the share of logistics jobs requiring higher qualifications seems to increase in both countries, many lower skilled activities seem to be subject to productivity increase and/or (international) relocation. If dynamics in the logistic sector contribute to the decline of manufacturing employment in various ways, employment in this sector overall does not contribute to the rising share of employment in the service sector.

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