Type of Project: Funded project Study
Social Participation in Europe: A Study on the Regulatory Principles of European Social and Equality Policies Using the Example of Policies for Disabled People

Disability policy is not a clearly delimitable policy field, but rather exists as a complex "policy mix" in the field of tension between livelihood security (socio-political protection), rehabilitation (labor market integration) and equality (civil rights policy). In addition, the growing influence of the European Union as a supranational agent - for example, in the adoption of the Equal Treatment Act in Germany - is making itself felt. Against this background, the research project analyzes EU documents relevant to disability policy in order to reconstruct the genesis of European disability policy at the programmatic and institutional-structural level. In addition, the project examines the extent to which European regulatory principles are reflected in national policies and what role EU requirements play in national implementation processes. To this end, three country profiles are drawn up on the basis of Esping-Andersen's (1990) welfare state typology: - Germany for the conservative-corporatist welfare state type, - Great Britain for the economic-liberal type and - Sweden for the social-democratic-universalist type. The country analyses ask about the tension between social policy-oriented disability policy and civil rights and equality policy.