The specific contribution of this volume

When looking at national activation policies, we can see a clear tendency to widen the range of target groups and benefit schemes to be activated, but also a certain extent of convergence towards work first policies with less emphasis on human capital formation - even in the Scandinavian countries. Hence, looking only at unemployment insurance or social assistance would not provide a complete and comparable picture of current activation practices. 

In contrast to existing work on activation, we also aim at a genuine interdisciplinary approach by bringing together economic, social or political science 

Does activation succeed in bringing the jobless into work If so, under which conditions in terms of implementation, governance structures and labour market environment does activation work best Is there a general or context-specific pattern of viable activation strategies This volume tries to give answers to these research questions by bringing together country expertise with available empirical evidence on the outcomes of activation policies in real terms. 

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