Beyond the welfare state as we knew it?

Social services, welfare states and places: an overview

“…a new set of principles made explicit in the Lisbon Council of 2000 -has been identified by a number of scholars (Morel et al, 2012;Hemerijck, 2012), although it would only apply to the welfare domain, rather than to state intervention in general. The new approach, which found political legitimacy in a series of European documents and directives (see Goméz-Barroso et al, in this volume), allegedly marks a setback of the neo-liberal paradigm and the return of social policy (Hemerijck, 2012).…”

“…As stressed by Morel et al (2012), the social investment is a 'perspective', still in search of political consensus, rather than a settled paradigm. Jenson (2012) notes that the strengthsand weaknesses -of the approach lie precisely in its ambiguity, which makes it acceptable to many parties, but also makes it rather indeterminate.…”

Social Inequalities in Europe The Challenge of Convergence and Cohesion

“…What distinguishes the social investment approach is that its focus is much more on 'capacitating' interventions than on those which compensate. In this sense, social investment is about raising human and social capital to prevent future problems that could require costlier interventions (Morel et al 2012). -Generous replacement of market earnings through the state.…”

“…The essence of the social investment approach is that timely policy interventions prevent future problems, reducing the need for subsequent interventions to compensate citizens (Morel et al 2012). Early childhood education, for example, may avoid exclusion of young people and save later costs related to unemployment, criminal activity, etc.…”

Losing Sight of the Child? Human Capital Theory and its Role for Early Childhood Education and Care Policies in Finland and England since the Mid-1990s

“…The EU discourse on ECEC is likely to have been influenced both by the 'inclusive liberal turn' of the OECD (Mahon & McBride, 2009), as well as ideas of the 'new welfare state' (e.g. Esping-Andersen et al, 2002) and the 'social investment paradigm' (Morel et al, 2012). A common denominator here seems to be that economic growth and competitiveness are dependent on the use of investment strategies in combination with measures for making labour markets and social protection schemes more flexible.…”