In public debate on immigrants' political ties with their country of origin, two assumptions prevail. The first assumption is that many immigrants engage in transnational political activities. The second is that forms of transnational citizenship are an impediment for the development of local citizenship. However, so far little research has been done on the importance of, and the relationship between, local and transnational citizenship. In this article, we focus on local and transnational forms of active citizenship, here understood as the total of political practices and processes of identification. Our study, conducted among middle-class immigrants in Rotterdam, indicates that the importance of active transnational citizenship should not be overstated. Among these middle-class immigrants, political practices are primarily focused on the local level; political practices directed to the home country appear to be quite rare. If we look at processes of identification, we see that a majority of the middle-class immigrants have a strong urban identity. Many of them combine this local identification with feelings of belonging with people in their home country. These local and transnational identifications seem to reinforce, rather than impede, each other.

Contemporary western democracies, such the United States, Great Britain, and The Netherlands have become diploma democracies. They are ruled by the well educated, whereas the least educated, even though they still comprise about half of the population, have virtually vanished from most political arenas. Of course, the well educated have always been more politically active than the less educated, but in the past decades this gap has widened substantially. Well-educated citizens are more inclined to vote, to write letters to the editor, or to visit consultative or deliberative meetings than citizens with a low level of education; and most, if not all, members of parliament, all the political officials, and almost all of the political advocates and lobbyists, have college or graduate degrees. The paper substantiates the rise of diploma democracy in The Netherlands, discusses what is problematic about such an educational meritocracy in the context of democracy, and looks at what could be done to mitigate or remedy some of its negative effects.

This article is concerned with the consequences of economic and demographic decline for the welfare state. The issue of decline itself is not investigated. Decline is taken for granted and the consequences of decline are examined. In this article the sociological 'logic' of social policy is investigated and subsequently applied to the issue of decline. The policy-mechanisms that are discussed are: selective versus universal social policy; the extent and character of redistribution; and individual versus collective responsibility. The question that is raised in the final section is what demographic decline in particular might imply for a universal welfare state: more selectivity in social policy? less redistribution between young and old? more individual responsibility? By making use of the policy-mechanisms discussed before, the consequences of these strategies are discussed.

Over the past years the European Commission has undergone it most significant changes since its inception. Internal reforms and a long series of treaty revisions have transformed the relationship of commissioners and that of their top officials. This paper describes how the emergence of new rules and recruiting patterns and a change in role interpretations have contributed to a growing demarcation between the political and administrative spheres in the European Commission.

A large number of Dutch policy areas is governed by institutionalized European policy networks and European laws and rules. Various forms of multi-level governance have emerged that were seemingly unforeseen at the time when the field of European integration studies was preoccupied by the fierce debates between intergouvernmentalists and supernationalists. Nevertheless, the field has hitherto given little attention to how europeanisation has affected national civil service systems. This article kicks off this special issue with an overview of the recent literature on the effects of Europeanisation on national civil service systems.

Although long recognized as beneficial, a global language has not come to fruition despite considerable past efforts. A major reason is that many policy makers and citizens fear that such a universal language would undermine the particularistic, constituting primary languages of local and national communities. This dilemma can be greatly diminished by a two tier approach, in which efforts to protect the primary language will be intensified but all the nations involved would agree to use the same second language as the global one. Although theoretically the UN or some other such body could choose such a language, in effect English is increasingly occupying this position. However, policies that are in place slow down the development of a global language, often based on the mistaken assumption that people can readily gain fluency in several languages.

The European Commission has attempted to incorporate non-state actors in European decision-making through the so-called 'social dialogue' and 'civil dialogue'. The actors involved in the two dialogues are, respectively, social partners and civil society organisations. In this article we compare the two dialogues in terms of theories on the development of corporatist governmental arrangements. Our analysis shows that, whereas the social dialogue can now be characterised as corporatist, the civil dialogue remains pluralist in nature. We account for this difference by considering the interests of the actors involved, windows of opportunity and internal responsiveness.

This article sketches four more or less excluding future scenarios with regard to immigration and social security. Its objective is to find an answer to the question how the Dutch welfare state and more in particular the system of social security can contribute positively to both labour market participation and social integration of non-western immigrants. The four scenarios, constructed on the basis of two dichotomies open versus closed country borders and privatised versus collective social security, can be perceived as ideal types. Although none of the four scenarios will contribute unequivocally to solving the problem of labour market participation and social integration of immigration, it turns out that two scenarios will be more realistic, given in particular the long-term development of the social security system towards further privatisation. These are the scenarios that combine privatised social security with open or closed borders. The first scenario will be more beneficial from an economic viewpoint. By contrast, the second scenario will be more attractive for those people who primarily want to restrict immigration.

Fathers may fundamentally change their behaviour, depending on the context. In this article, this aspect was investigated on the basis of three exceptional practices. The 'standard practice' has been defined as a living unit consisting of a man, a woman and one or more children, with the man working outside the home at regular times (generally from 9-17 hours) and the woman being (largely) responsible for household and care tasks. We speak of an exceptional practice if the man works non-regular hours, or has an unusual working pattern, or is part of a special type of household. The study involved around thirty such households, subdivided into the households of homosexual fathers, shiftworkers and teleworkers. The main conclusion of the article into exceptional practices is that men's views and preferences as regards the distribution of tasks between men and women are closely linked to the context in which they perform these tasks. In households characterised by a more balanced distribution of tasks, the alleged skills and preferences of men and the tradition in which they grew up have become largely or totally irrelevant. It turns out that men's opinions may change in situations where men are forced to carry out certain tasks because of a change in circumstances (different working hours, working patterns or alternative lifestyles). In that case, even supposedly poor skills are suddenly of little or no importance. Being 'alone' at home with the children appears to be an important stimulus to actually perform care tasks.

Cities are in stage of transformation under the combined effect of enlargement of scale and the enlargement of scope of urban activities. The enlargement of scale is visible in the regionalization of urban development. Housing markets, labor markets and mobility patterns crystallize at regional level. However, the scaling up of urban life is not just an extension of the city as is experienced over more than a century. The simultaneous enlargement of scope makes the transformation more complex and dependant on external connections, both in the private and the public sector. The essay explores concepts that try to explain the nature of this new complexity. What is the meaning of 'urban space' and 'urban place' under the conditions of globalization? And what are the consequences for the guidance of collective action in the context of multi actor and multi level governance? The nature of urban change is illustrated in the case of the Randstad Holland, in particular the region of Amsterdam.

This article identifies institutions and arrangements concerning the reconciliation of working life and family life for various European countries. These institutions and arrangements concern time (flexible working hours and leave arrangements), money (tax systems) and facilities (childcare facilities). A fairer distribution of all work and care tasks requires proper facilities at national level in respect of childcare, parental leave, so-called leave savings schemes, the right to work part-time, etc. Such facilities are of particular importance while taking the first steps towards a fairer distribution: they will enable men to take on more tasks at home, while making it easier for women to work outside the home. The article concludes that with regard to reconciliation facilities, the differences between the several welfare states within the European Union are fading away. This is interesting, because as a result the EU countries are increasingly finding common ground in terms of solutions for reconciliation and more specifically the role of men.

Fathers may fundamentally change their behaviour, depending on the context. In this article, this aspect was investigated on the basis of three exceptional practices. The 'standard practice' has been defined as a living unit consisting of a man, a woman and one or more children, with the man working outside the home at regular times (generally from 9-17 hours) and the woman being (largely) responsible for household and care tasks. We speak of an exceptional practice if the man works non-regular hours, or has an unusual working pattern, or is part of a special type of household. The study involved around thirty such households, subdivided into the households of homosexual fathers, shiftworkers and teleworkers. The main conclusion of the article into exceptional practices is that men's views and preferences as regards the distribution of tasks between men and women are closely linked to the context in which they perform these tasks. In households characterised by a more balanced distribution of tasks, the alleged skills and preferences of men and the tradition in which they grew up have become largely or totally irrelevant. It turns out that men's opinions may change in situations where men are forced to carry out certain tasks because of a change in circumstances (different working hours, working patterns or alternative lifestyles). In that case, even supposedly poor skills are suddenly of little or no importance. Being 'alone' at home with the children appears to be an important stimulus to actually perform care tasks.