This edited collection examines unemployment in Europe in the context of globalisation, the implementation of European Monetary Union and the Eastern enlargement of the EU. It combines theoretical chapters with detailed case-studies of Britain, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Central Europe. INDICE 1. Henk Overbeek Transnational political economy and the politics of European (un)employment: Introducing the Themes Part I 2. Henk Overbeek globalisation, neo-liberalism and the employment question 3. Bob Jessop Changes in Welfare Regimes and the Search for Flexibility and Employability 4. Hans-Jurgen Bieling Employment policy between neo-liberalism and communitarianism Part II 5. Stefan Tidow The emergence of European employment policy as a transnational political arena 6.Brigette Young EMU, employment and gender politics: a feminist constructivist analysis of neo-liberal labour market restructuring in Europe 7. Bastiaan van Apeldoorn European unemployment and transnational capitalist class strategy: the rise of the neo-liberal competitiveness discourse Part III 8. Bob Jessop From Thatcherism to New Labour: Neo-liberalism, workfarism and labour market regulation 9. Uwe Becker Competitive corporatism? National and transnational elements in the Dutch employment 'miracle' 10. Magnus Ryner and Thorsten Schulten The political economy of labour market restructuring and trade union responses in the 'social democratic' heartland 11. Leila S. Talani and Emma Cervino Mediterranean labour and the impact of the EMU: mass unemployment or labour market flexibility? 12. Henk Overbeek Conflicting views on how to address (un)employment in Europe: Towards a tentative conclusion