pp. 307-332

In the European Union in the last ten years, reforms have been introduced which are making closer links between unemployment benefits or allowances and the labour market activity. The border between employment policies, social policies and fiscal policies is not distinct. This « activation » of social protection takes on very different forms however according to the country where the elements relate to two types of ideal : the liberal regime and the universalist activation regime. The different social state families use diverse logic to combine these characteristics. The community level intervenes mainly in the distribution of cognitive frameworks to interpret economic problems : it displays an orthodox economic approach which considers activation as a lever for social policy which is subordinated to economic policy.