Explores the role of governments in creating and regulating private pensions in the UK and Germany since the 1980s. Private pensions have given rise to a new regulatory state in this area. The contributing authors compare pension regulation and utility regulation, while others analyse the regulatory role of the EU.

An account of the move towards private pensions in the UK and Germany since the 1980s, highlighting the role of governments and the EU in their creation and regulation

Introduction: Towards a New Regulatory State in Old-Age Security? Exploring the Issues; L.Leisering & D.Mabbett PART I: THEORIES OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC REGULATION The Transformations of the Regulatory State; G.Majone De-regulation and Re-regulaton of Public Utilities: The New Regulatory State in the European System of Multi-Level Governance; E.Grande Limits to the Regulated Market: the UK Experiment; P.Taylor-Gooby PART II: PENSION PRIVATIZATION AND REGULATION IN BRITAIN AND GERMANY Back to the State? The Public Policies of Private and Public Pensions in Britain; C.Marschallek New Private Pensions in Germany: A Pension Market or a Branch of the Welfare State? Contested Regulatory Issues; F.Berner PART III: THE ROLE OF THE EU 'Social Europe' in Old-age Security? EU Policies of Public and Private Pensions; U.Davy Policies of the EU towards Occupational Pensions: Limits to Regulation; M.Haverland PART IV: COMPARATIVE AND CONCEPTUAL PERSPECTIVES The Regulatory Politics of Private Pensions in the UK and Germany; D.Mabbett  The Regulatory Policies of Private Pensions in the UK and Germany: Goals and Instruments of Regulation in a Welfare State Environment; L.Leisering PART V: CONCLUSION: IDENTIFYING THE NEW REGULATORY STATE Varieties of Market Regulation: Comparing the New Pension Regulation to the Regulation of Public Utilities; L.Leisering Transformations of the State: Comparing the New Regulatory State to the Post-war Provider State; L.Leisering Varieties of the New Regulatory State: Comparing the UK and Germany; L.Leisering Afterword: Rethinking the Nation State; L.Leisering