ABSTRACT
Under the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union, the idea of a social investment perspective was initially stipulated in 2001. Frank Vandenbroucke presented the new concept as a way to promote sustainable social justice in the field of social policy. Wendy Brown follows the considerations of Michel Foucault, who refers to human capital theory as distinctive American neoliberalism, most notably theorized by Gary Becker's writing. Social investment policies do not abolish income provisions, which must remain an important function of the welfare state that works as a necessary complement to activation and which cannot be substituted by activation. For the European Commission, social investment should complete and modernize contemporary welfare states. Instead of a short-term perspective, welfare states should engage in reforms that have lasting impacts by offering economic and social returns over time, notably in terms of employment prospects or labour income.
