This collection provides a novel approach to unemployment as a contested political field in six European countries. Combining two theoretical traditions that so far have followed quite separate tracks (the literature on social movements and contentious politics and the literature on the comparative political economy of the welfare state), this study provides evidence about the impact of welfare state regimes, conceived as political opportunity structures specific to this field, on public debates and collective mobilizations in unemployment politics. Drawing on original data from a major EU-funded research project, contributors show how the prevailing national models of the welfare state influence the contentious politics of unemployment, both in its visible side as claim-making in the public domain and in its less visible side as intervention within policy networks. In addition to national debates and mobilizations, the book also addresses political contention over unemployment at the European level.