Die Sozialinvestitionsperspektive der Europäischen Union - ein neoliberaler Wolf im keynesianischen Schafspelz?

On European level, academics and politicians alike herald the social investment as panacea, which may counteract pure neo-liberal social policies. Some critics emphasized the contradictory notions of the concept and the reform proposals. This article considers the question, how neoliberal the social investment perspective of the European Commission is? We investigate at first the social investment package of the European Commission via a qualitative content analysis and then elaborate on core dimensions discursively. The conceptual ambiguity is clearly apparent in the content of the documents: certain costs should be shifted to the private realm with an emphasis on market integration; however, systems of social protection should provide a minimum support and recognize equal opportunity. The European level is expected to expand its steering capacities and to propose output management, control mechanisms and other New Public Management tools.