This book is an outcome of COST Action A13, ‘Changing Labour Markets, Welfare Policies and Citizenship’.The purpose of COST Action A13 has been to examine the effects of social security systems and welfare institutions on the processes of political and social marginalisation and exclusion. So far, COST Action A13 has published or is in the process of publishing the following books and articles in journals:

Jørgen Goul Andersen and Per H. Jensen (eds) Changing labour markets, welfare policies and citizenship, Bristol: The Policy Press.

Jørgen Goul Andersen, Jochen Clasen, Wim van Oorschot and Knut Halvorsen (eds) Europe's new state of welfare: Unemployment, employment policies and citizenship, Bristol: The Policy Press.

Tony Maltby, Bert de Vroom, Maria Luisa Mirabile and Einar Øverbye (eds) Ageing and the transition to retirement, Aldershot: Ashgate.

Jean-Claude Barbier and Wolfgang Ludwig-Mayerhofer (eds) ‘The many worlds of activation’, European Societies, vol 6, no 4, Special issue on activation policies.

Harriet Bradley and Jacques van Hoof (eds) Young people in Europe: Labour markets and citizenship, Bristol: The Policy Press.

Birgit Pfau-Effinger and Birgit Geissler (eds) Care and social integration in European societies, Bristol: The Policy Press.

COST is an intergovernmental organisation for the coordination of scientific and technical research, aiming at the coordination and formation of networks on a European level between nationally funded research projects. Some 80 experts, appointed by 17 countries, have participated in COST Action A13. The COST Action A13 network was in force for five years (1998-2003). For further information about COST Action A13, see www.socsci.aau.dk/cost.