European Welfare States and Supranational Governance of Social Policy

Abstract

Governance is the transformation of a diverse set of actor preferences into policy choices and coordinated action (Eising and Kohler-Koch 1999, p. 5). Governance in the social policy field has traditionally been located at the level of the state. Increasingly however, new forms of governance are emerging at supranational levels. Policy-making in the social policy field at the regional level in Europe now includes three distinct forms of governance by the European Union: governance by EU law, governance by EU-level bargaining between employers’ and workers’ associations in the Social Dialogue, and the governance of employment policy in the form of the European Employment Strategy.