“No one has conceptualized so clearly social democratic ‘third-way’ policies as Huo does in this book. Nor has anyone provided such an insightful analysis of their development, implementation and degrees of success in a relatively large number of countries. The central argument is important: partisan politics and governance, especially social democratic party electoral success and rule, while institutionally constrained, is the key to understanding cross-national differences and change in labor market and employment policies in post-industrial democracies. The book can be highly recommended to all students and scholars of comparative and European political economy.”
-Duane Swank, Marquette University

This book examines the transformation of contemporary social democracy through the concept of 'third way' reforms. It proposes a set of theories about the possibility for continuing social democratic ideological adaptation, for ideologies to overcome institutional constraints in triggering path-breaking innovations, and for social democracy to bridge the insider-outsider divide. Empirically, the book utilizes these theories to account for social democratic welfare state and labor market reforms in nine OECD countries after the end of the Golden Age. Based on the logic of 'public evils', the book proposes that the ideologically contested nature of institutions provides incentives for institutional innovation. Social democratic ideology shapes the fundamental characteristics and content of the third way policy paradigm, and the paradigm's practical implementation continues to be path-dependent on historical institutional settings.

1. Introduction
2. Theorizing the third way
3. Constraints on action: institutions and ideas
4. Prelude to the third way
5. Expansion in active protection
6. Restructuring passive protection
7. Economic and corporatist contexts for the third way
8. Theories of possibilities.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Comparative politics [JPB]