ABSTRACT
Much has been written on the sclerotic development of the ‘European Social Dimension’. Again, this literature is divided between the ‘cautious optimists’ and the Euro-pessimists (Trubeck 1996). The optimists point to the autonomy and purpose of key institutions in Europe’s ‘multilevel’ polity and the capacity of the latter and the member states to create a regulatory order that bolsters Europe’s national social contracts. Meanwhile, the pessimists argue that integration has contributed to the ‘globalization’ of the European economy in breaking down the borders of economic competition while contributing little to new institutionbuilding or preventing ‘social dumping’ and regime competition from eroding social standards.
