Description:Knut Roder's in-depth analysis of labour market policies of the British Labour Party and German Social Democratic Party in the last two decades is a masterly account of the changes, and electoral consequences. Focusing on one of the core policy areas of any political party, but in particular of Social Democrats, the author applies interesting methodological approaches, which not only prove the significance of policy change in this field for electoral success or failure, but also show interesting similarities between the two parties. Roder has put a lot of effort in, and he has spoken to many key protagonists in both parties, including several former party leaders. Whilst not easy to read, the book should nonetheless be studied by any student interested in the areas of party systems and the Third Way politics.