The Austrian Pacts and their contribution to sustainable change

This chapter aims to present lessons learnt of the Austrian employment partnerships, to discuss recent results in respect of the four practical dilemmas envisaged in the first chapter of the book and to debate if partnerships are a strategy for sustainable change in the field of labour market policies.

The article consists of three parts: firstly, contributions of the Austrian partnerships to sustainable change will be discussed. Secondly, practical aspects of partnership work will be described, such as how the partnerships influence policy, exemplified by "the green paper for elderly" developed within a multi-level collaboration of pacts. Furthermore, process findings like the need for further clarification of partnerships scope of opportunities are presented. And last but not least, the author concludes by analysing the results achieved so far, thereby questioning if partnerships are a strategy for sustainable change and innovation.

Authors: Scoppetta, A.