ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the postwar consensus on the need for social rights to be upheld, while at times flawed and fragile, endured for approximately 30 years before coming under attack from both domestic and international forces from the late 1970s onwards. In the contemporary period the political discourse surrounding social rights and the redistributive state welfare policy required to ensure the realisation of such rights. A social right has undergone profound change with an increasing emphasis placed on the need for individual citizens rather than the state to take responsibility for securing their own welfare. The response to major events such as the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, which has had profound implications for welfare provision, has only served to erode further the access to social rights that ordinary citizens can expect in most European countries. New Labour was far from being the only political party to promote the 'activation' approach to employment and social assistance.
