This book seeks to gain a better understanding of the paradoxical relationship between the alleged need of European labour markets to become more flexible and the way in which national policies pursue this aim without jeopardising existing high standards of income and employment security....

This volume suggests a new way of doing global history. Instead of offering a sweeping and generalizing overview of the past, we propose a "micro-spatial" approach, combining micro-history with the concept of space. A focus on primary sources and awareness of the historical discontinuities and...