Denmark's labour market and industrial relations system are briefly described in order to understand the conditions of flexicurity in Denmark. In Denmark, the 'September compromise in 1899' produced the constitutional framework for industrial relations. Through this compromise, the employer's right to manage and the employee's right to organize and to conduct collective bargaining were mutually recognized. Being based on training and educational background, trade unions are classified as craft, general, industrial and professional organizations and are fragmented into very small units. Most are cross-firm unions, and there are four umbrella unions. Most labour conditions, not only wages and working time but also rules of dismissal, are determined by collective bargaining agreements. Recently these agreements tended to define only minimum or optimal wages. Individual wages are increasingly determined in workplaces. The rules of dismissal prevent arbitrary actions by employers, but they can dismiss workers relatively easily if rational reasons are given. Labour mobility is very high. Almost 60 % of workers who separate from their jobs move to different sectors. Most workers seem to make use of various kinds of vocational training programs and education. Labour unions also seem to commit deeply to training and education. 'Mobication', a newly created word, is also examined.

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Recently, Denmark has attracted a great deal of attention as 'flexicurity model' because it has both a flexible labour market and a generous social security system. It is often said that the flexicurity model of Denmark consists of a flexible labour market, generous welfare system and active labour market policy. There are two focuses in this paper: What is the historical context in which Danish flexicurity model has developed? And, how has the recent introduction of an active labour market policy impacted on the unemployed in Denmark? In order to answer these two research questions, the framework of this paper is as follows. Firstly, we describe the institutions composing Danish flexicurity. Secondly, the paper tries to demonstrate the historical development of unemployment insurance and active labour market policy in Denmark. Finally, we point out the influence of activation policy on marginalised workers.

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This article examines the main characteristics of the Dutch labour market and employment policy through recent labour market reforms. Traditionally, Dutch labour market policy was mainly based on restricting the supply of labour and providing social security benefits to protect the unemployed. However, this passive policy was changed with the introduction of an active labour market policy in the late 1980s. Moreover, since the 1990s, the "activation" policy has included somewhat neo-liberal elements which have become the main policy to promote (re) entrance of the unemployed into the labour market. In this context, the new concept of "flexicurity" policy, aiming at both labour market flexibility and the security of the employed, was introduced to reform the Dutch labour market. However, the gap between well-protected fulltime workers and "flexible" workers such as the fixed-term employees and temporary agency workers still remains. Additionally, the situations of the long-term unemployed and the young unemployed have yet to improve.

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Is the flexicurity policy of the EU a new framework for further deregulation of the labour market? Or does it lead to a new balance between economic efficiency and social protection that can benefit both employers and workers? This article examines the contemporary history of the flexicurity policy of the EU, focusing on the differences, convergences, and interactions of opinions among the political institutions of the EU and the European social partners in the process for the adoption of the 'common principle of flexicurity' by the Council of the European Union in December 2007. Particular attention is given to the emphasis on the promotion of 'external flexibility' and its position in the overall framework of flexicurity. It is shown that only the qualitative changes of the early proposals which emphasized the importance of certain flexibility components-notably, deregulation of the employment protection legislation-made it possible for stakeholders to reach a consensus.

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There are many studies on social policy in contemporary Japan, but we see less and less discussion about social policy methodology. The reason is that the current social policy issues are becoming more diverse while research approaches are becoming increasingly narrow, so that we face many difficulties in attempting to unify all fields of social policy. In other words, it is difficult to establish our views on the methodology of social policy. This special issue intends to pay homage to the late Tadashi Fukutake as a sociologist and trace the course of his work. Fukutake was a person who challenged traditional social policy studies and his views enjoyed a strong reputation during his late years. Reexamining the contributions of Fukutake will help to clarify the debate about the methodology of social policy studies in Japan.

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Tadashi Fukutake, a well-known rural sociologist, had close ties to the Society for the Study of Social Policy. He published an article titled "Sociology and Social Policy" during a period of dispute about the nature of social policy and he was criticized by social policy scholars. After that experience, he seemed to lose his interest in social policy. However, he broke his silence in his later years and once again began to write papers on social policy, especially social security. In the history of Japan's sociology, he established the tradition of empirical studies, founded a school of rural sociology, and wrote standard textbooks on sociology and social research. Some sociologists believe he changed the speculative tendency of Japanese sociology and explained Japanese society universalist terms, although others criticize him for allegedly stealthily introducing Marxian tradition into Japanese sociology. He returned to social policy in his later years partly because he was named director general of the government institute on social security, and partly because of the development of his rural sociology. His efforts made it possible for younger sociologists to participate in the academic world of social policy.

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We examine Fukutake' works and highlight his pioneering role in developing the sociological approach to analyzing social policy during the postwar era. It is possible to discern both economic and sociological approaches when we survey studies on Japanese social policy from the prewar period. The former approach dealt primarily with labor problems, while the latter tackled policymaking related to population, child care, and health. In discussing Fukutake's works, we pay special attention to the history of the sociological approach. During the prewar era, Teizo Toda and others played very important roles in developing the sociological approach. Their discussions on municipal and rural social policies and the relationship between social policy and social work remained controversial after the Second World War. It was Fukutake who played a pioneering role in overcoming the resulting methodological divide.

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The aim of this paper is to explore through fieldwork the actualities of the "Workers' Self-production Movement" through which workers reestablish management of bankrupt companies and take over management from the former owners. This movement raises two new arguments regarding labor movements: First, will worker ownership be effective as a strategy for employment security, compared to workers dismissed after bankruptcies? Second, can this approach build democratic structures to replace the hierarchical organizations of the past? In regards to the former question, this study concludes that though the reorganized firm is not fully sufficient for continued subsistence, it can be sustained if reformed so as to adapt to markets, cut personnel costs, secure human resources and acquire financing. On the latter point, I argue that democratic decision making is realized as "equality of input" through the sharing of information on business and allowing all workers to voice opinions, but there is no "equality of decisions making" due to differences of responsibility among workers.

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In this paper, we analyze changes in wage premiums that workers with graduate degrees receive in Japan's labor market. Our study employs a cohort data set from two questionnaire surveys conducted in September 1998 and December 2009. Japanese graduate schools have experienced major reforms since the late 1980s. Consequently, the number of students pursuing graduate degrees has increased considerably. However, few studies have examined the relevance of graduate education in careers, and little empirical research has exclusively focused on this issue. After workers receive education and training, the effects are presumably appraised in light of occupational attainment. A statistical analysis was conducted to examine the effect of graduate education. The results indicate that the wage premiums of such workers exhibit a downward trend. Moreover, they reveal that a graduate degree does not provide workers with a steady advantage in wage determination, especially among workers who graduate in the liberal arts and social sciences. This implies that the occupational structure of the labor market does not have the capacity to absorb the rising number of educated workers into traditional occupations.

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This paper utilizes cross-era comparison to analyze the development process of health care policies in three East Asian countries, Japan, South Korea and China. Based on this comparison, this paper argues that there is a distinctive 'East Asian Path' in the development of health care policy. The key elements of the 'East Asian Path' are incorporation of employee insurance and regional insurance, the importance of regional insurance, and heavy dependence on government subsidies. These characteristics imply that the main concern of East Asian social policy is balancing economic development and social stability during eras of rapid transformation, not just improving production. Unlike arguments of the East Asian Welfare Model, this paper does not insist that these three countries belong to one model. The 'path' means that they share similar features in particular stages of development. These similarities are not the result of common culture or geographical proximity. Instead, they are the inevitable results of late-coming, catch-up industrialization.

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