To start with, the book bridges an important gap in research on post-Fordism in at least two respects. First, it analyses the varying expressions of Fordism in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom and empirically shows that there can be successful alternatives to neo-liberal post-Fordist restructuring. Second, it applies the regulation approach, which, to date, had its strongest moments in detailed case studies, to a comparative analysis in social structure and labour market regimes.

Koch starts with a theoretical synthesis of the writings of Marx and Weber and thereby develops an understanding of social structure as a dynamic plurality of exclusionary social relationships that are both expressed at the point of production and at the level of the distribution of wealth. He then goes on to introduce the regulation approach as a mediating research tool which allows for a combination of the general character of capitalist development and power relations and the analysis of specific national paths of regulation that also include non-economic motivations and struggles. In order to analyse these specificities, regulationists offer two intermediary concepts, namely regimes of accumulation and modes of regulation, the latter comprising five sub-dimensions or institutional forms which are the wage relation, the enterprise form, the nature of money, the state, and international regimes. Of these, Koch focuses especially on the state and the wage relation, and here mainly on the procedures and contents of wage determination. At this point, however, the author unnecessarily limits the explanatory power of his approach. For why, after all, should we apply the concept of mode of regulation if we do not take account of its central characteristic, that is the dialectial relation between its institutional sub-dimensions, their relative autonomy vis-à-vis each other as well as their structural coherence that finally determines its way of forming a social entity, which can then shed light on the specific national paths of restructuring? In missing this point, the author especially fails to take account of more recent developments in the regulation approach that reveal varying hierarchies between the institutional forms of a mode of regulation. In this regard – this is shown among others by the works of Boyer and Petit – the transition from Fordism to post-Fordism can be characterised not only be the transformation of the forms themselves, but also by a transformation of the hierarchies between them.

Beside this weakness, however, Koch's study represents an important contribution to the debate on post-Fordism, which, all too often, simply relies on an undifferentiated romanticism of the past without being grounded in real historical data. In a first step, Koch empirically shows that there has been, indeed, something that can be labelled a ‘Fordist social structure’, characterised by high growth rates of GDP and productivity, full employment, industrialisation, and a rising percentage of dependent employment within economic activity. These common structural features, however, were accompanied by specific national development trends, the most important differences being the ways by which full employment was established. Here, it has been especially the gender-related distribution of work where differences in social structure can be observed in the first place. Second, Koch argues that this growth period of Fordism was followed by a decomposition of labour markets and social structures, with the above-mentioned features being replaced by shrinking growth rates of GDP and productivity, decreasing or stagnating real wages, de-industrialisation and increasing labour market marginality, especially through unemployment. Yet, here again, differences in this process of decomposition were quite obvious. These concerned especially geographical aspects (core−periphery structure) with a view to de-industrialisation, as well as varying political priorities in the five countries, which explain the different preferences given to economic stability and the ideal of full employment, respectively. Finally, the author shows that this phase of decomposition was then replaced by a process of recomposition of labour markets and social structures. It is only in this phase of recomposition and re-regulation where national paths started to deviate decisively. Two ideal-types of the respective roads to post-Fordism can be distinguished here. First, a capital-oriented growth strategy, where the return to full employment and fast growth rates is carried out at the expense of slow productivity growth and high inequalities. Two of the countries analysed, the UK and – only since the early 2000s – Germany, came close to this type of growth strategy, accompanied by a weakening role of the state, which means that state intervention mainly served to make itself redundant in the interest of market forces. Second, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden rather followed a negotiated growth strategy, characterised by efforts to return to full employment and high growth via an intensive use of labour and a high productivity orientation. Here, the role of the state was more an ‘engaged’ one, where governments played a more inclusive role in combining supply-oriented growth strategies with reforms that held inequalities on a rather low level.

Beside these general characteristics, however, important differences occurred between the countries as the concrete outcome of reforms has been heavily influenced by social struggles and the respective social power configurations. In Germany, the relatively strong position of trade unions massively delayed the process of re-regulation following the phase of decomposition such that a real recomposition has not really occurred yet. Likewise, in the Netherlands, the negotiated strategy went hand in hand with an extensive use of labour, accompanied by relatively low wages, both also being characteristic for capital-oriented strategies. All in all, however – and this is the main message of the book – the author empirically shows that there are alternatives to neoliberal restructuring following the crisis of Fordism. In other words, policies that have tried to combine social inclusion and participation, on the one hand, and economic competitiveness in a globalised economy, on the other hand, have proven to be no less successful than the purely capital-oriented strategies.

Taken together, the book is a convincing argument for refining (in empirical terms) not only superficial debates about the meaning and expression of neoliberal restructuring, but also for rethinking (in theoretical terms) popular approaches that deal with the ‘Varieties of Capitalism’. By neglecting aspects of inequality – both at the point of production and at the point of (re-)distribution – the latter miss an important feature in their description of European restructuring. If the book thus serves as a starting point for a more open dialogue between mainstream and regulationist approaches, it could be a lasting important contribution in spite of the above-mentioned theoretical reservations.