Welfare to Work in Contemporary European Welfare States

Anja Eleveld is a labour lawyer, political scientist and Assistant Professor at the VU University Amsterdam. Her research focuses on the regulation and implementation of conditional welfare. Thomas Kampen is a sociologist and Assistant Professor at the University of Humanistic Studies. His research focuses on the lived experiences of welfare state reforms in the Netherlands. Josien Arts received her PhD in Sociology from the University of Amsterdam. She examined local practices of welfare-to-work policy in the Netherlands in the context of post-Fordist labour markets.

Welfare to work, social justice and domination: an introduction to an interdisciplinary normative perspective on welfare policies ~ Anja Eleveld, Thomas Kampen and Josien Arts





PART I: Legal perspectives


Workfare’s persistent philosophical and legal issues: forced labour, reciprocity and a basic income guarantee ~ Amir Paz-Fuchs


The right to work: a justification for welfare to work? ~ Elise Dermine


Limitation of welfare to work: the prohibition of forced labour and the right to freely chosen work ~ Elise Dermine


The duty to work as precondition for human dignity: a Swiss perspective on work programmes ~ Melanie Studer and Kurt Pärli


The prohibition of forced labour and the right to freely chosen work: a comparison of Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK ~ Anja Eleveld, Neville Harris and Christian H. Schøler





PART II: Sociological perspectives


Implementing social justice within activation policies: the contribution of the capability approach ~ Jean-Michel Bonvin and Luca Perrig


The silent expansion of welfare to work policies: how policies are enhanced through the use of categorizations, evidence-based knowledge and self-governance ~ Mathias H. Nielsen, Sophie Danneris and Niklas A. Andersen


Questions of conduct and social justice: the ethics of welfare conditionality within UK social security ~ Peter Dwyer


Pressing, repressing and accommodating: local modes of governing social assistance recipients in welfare to work programmes in the Netherlands ~ Josien Arts


Left in limbo: social assistance recipients' evolving views on the fairness of workfare volunteerism ~ Thomas Kampen





PART III: Philosophical perspectives


Welfare to work and the republican theory of non-domination ~ Anja Eleveld


Unconditional basic income and duties of contribution: exploring the republican ethos of justice ~ Simon Birnbaum


Freedom, exit and basic income ~ Stuart White





Conclusion: exit, voice and the minimization of domination in welfare to work relationships ~ Anja Eleveld