In this paper, we examine the inception and development of activation in Slovenia and the UK in order to identify the rationales for its introduction, to plot the direction of reforms and to consider the outcomes of policy implementation for citizens. In this unconventional country comparison, we are interested in understanding third-order (Hall 1993 Cpmparitive Politics 25 (3): 25–96) welfare state change as the context for the introduction of activation. The UK and, to a much greater extent, Slovenia, underwent paradigmatic changes in the goals of the economy, structure of the labour market and basis of social provisions in the late twentieth century. This provided the possibility for activation to develop a more distinct character and to be implemented to a greater extent than in other European countries. However, we argue that the nature of the activation strategies pursued in Slovenia and the UK have both retained strong flavours of their earlier policy traditions and point to the role of political institutions and arrangements in adjusting the demands of supranational organisations, particularly in the corporatist Slovenian case.