Welfare reforms local government and the politics of social inclusion: lessons from Denmark's labour market and area regeneration programmes.

This paper presented at Dept of social Science Dec 2002, focuses on the impact of the Welfare reforms on local government in the UK and Denmark. The paper considers two aspects of 'social inclusion' (or the politics of inclusion) - welfare to work and area regeneration initiatives which have been prominent features of social policy in both countries. The paper contrasts the two approaches - the UK which has tended to marginalise local governmnet with the focus on partnerships and the community sector. In Denmark, the reforms have essentially involved expanded competence for local government as well as stimulating a reform agenda which engages local councils with local communities around a new 'politics of inclusion'. Whilst the Danish model contains problems, tensions and limitations to its reforms, nevertheless there are guiding pronciples which offer lessons from the UK.