SOCIAL RIGHTS IN EUROPE IN AN AGE OF AUSTERITY
SOCIAL RIGHTS IN EUROPE IN AN AGE OF AUSTERITY

Author: Stefano Civitarese Matteucci

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-08-07

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 1351791427

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This collection of essays examines the promise and limits of social rights in Europe in a time of austerity. Presenting in the first instance five national case studies, representing the biggest European economies (UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain), it offers an account of recent reforms to social welfare and the attempts to resist them through litigation. The case studies are then used as a foundation for theory-building about social rights. This second group of chapters develops theory along two complementary lines: first, they explore the dynamics between social rights, public law, poverty and welfare in times of economic crisis; second, they consider the particular significance of the European context for articulations of, and struggles over, social rights. Employing a range and depth of expertise across Europe, the book constitutes a timely and highly significant contribution to socio-legal scholarship about the character and resilience of social rights in our national and regional constitutional settings.

Contentious Episodes in the Age of Austerity
Contentious Episodes in the Age of Austerity

Author: Abel Bojar

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-11-11

Total Pages: 351

ISBN-13: 1316519015

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Provides researchers with a novel methodological tool to study interactions between governments, challengers, and third-party actors.

Economic and Social Rights after the Global Financial Crisis
Economic and Social Rights after the Global Financial Crisis

Author: Aoife Nolan

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2014-10-09

Total Pages: 413

ISBN-13: 131606137X

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The global financial and economic crises have had a devastating impact on economic and social rights. These rights were ignored by economic policy makers prior to the crises and continue to be disregarded in the current 'age of austerity'. This is the first book to focus squarely on the interrelationship between contemporary and historic economic and financial crises, the responses thereto, and the resulting impact upon economic and social rights. Chapters examine the obligations imposed by such rights in terms of domestic and supranational crisis-related policy and law, and argue for a response to the crises that integrates these human rights considerations. The expert international contributors, both academics and practitioners, are drawn from a range of disciplines including law, economics, development and political science. The collection is thus uniquely placed to address debates and developments from a range of disciplinary, geographical and professional perspectives.

Politics in the Age of Austerity
Politics in the Age of Austerity

Author: Wolfgang Streeck

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2013-05-09

Total Pages: 465

ISBN-13: 0745670083

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In a world of increasing austerity measures, democratic politics comes under pressure. With the need to consolidate budgets and to accommodate financial markets, the responsiveness of governments to voters declines. However, democracy depends on choice. Citizens must be able to influence the course of government through elections and if a change in government cannot translate into different policies, democracy is incapacitated. Many mature democracies are approaching this situation as they confront fiscal crisis. For almost three decades, OECD countries have - in fits and starts - run deficits and accumulated debt. As a result, an ever smaller part of government revenue is available today for discretionary spending and social investment and whichever party comes into office will find its hands tied by past decisions. The current financial and fiscal crisis has exacerbated the long-term shrinking government discretion; projects for political change have lost credibility. Many citizens are aware of this situation: they turn away from party politics and stay at home on Election Day. With contributions from leading scholars in the forefront of sociology, politics and economics, this timely book will be of great interest to students and scholars throughout the social sciences as well as general readers.

Beyond Defeat and Austerity
Beyond Defeat and Austerity

Author: David Bailey

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-22

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 1317494563

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Much of the critical discussion of the European political economy and the Eurozone crisis has focused upon a sense that solidaristic achievements built up during the post-war period are being continuously unravelled. Whilst there are many reasons to lament the trajectory of change within Europe’s political economy, there are also important developments, trends and processes which have acted to obstruct, hinder and present alternatives to this perceived trajectory of declining social solidarity. These alternatives have tended to be obscured from view, in part as a result of the conceptual approaches adopted within the literature. Drawing from examples across the EU, this book presents an alternative narrative and explanation for the development of Europe’s political economy and crisis, emphasising the agency of what are typically considered subordinate (and passive) actors. By highlighting patterns of resistance, disobedience and disruption it makes a significant contribution to a literature that has otherwise been more concerned to understand patterns of heightened domination, exploitation, inequality and neoliberal consolidation. It will be of interest to students and scholars alike.

Working in the Context of Austerity
Working in the Context of Austerity

Author: Baines, Donna

Publisher: Bristol University Press

Published: 2020-11-09

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 152920867X

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Austerity was presented as the antidote to sluggish economies, but it has had far-reaching effects on jobs and employment conditions. With an international team of editors and authors from Europe, North America and Australia, this illuminating collection goes beyond a sole focus on public sector work and uniquely covers the impact of austerity on work across the private, public and voluntary spheres. Drawing on a range of perspectives, the book engages with the major debates surrounding austerity and neoliberalism, providing grounded analysis of the everyday experience of work and employment.

The Politics of Minimum Income
The Politics of Minimum Income

Author: Marcello Natili

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-12-14

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 3319962116

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Minimum income schemes (MIS) have become key social protection institutions for European citizens, but we know little regarding the logic and dynamics of institutional change in this policy field. This book provides an analytical model that will facilitate an understanding of the scope and direction of recent reforms, offering insight into the conditions under which minimum income schemes are introduced, expanded or retrenched. Natili presents a comparative analysis of policy trajectories of minimum income schemes in Italy and Spain between the mid-1980s and 2015. Although these two countries had similar points of departure, and faced comparable functional pressures and institutional constraints, they experienced remarkably different developments in this policy field in the last two decades. This comparative analysis provides empirical evidence of the impacts of different types of credit-claiming dynamics resulting from the interaction of socio-political demand with political supply. The Politics of Minimum Income also assesses the reform processes both in countries that have introduced MIS in the age of austerity (such as Portugal) and in countries that have retrenched them (Austria and Denmark).

Social Movements in Times of Austerity: Bringing Capitalism Back Into Protest Analysis
Social Movements in Times of Austerity: Bringing Capitalism Back Into Protest Analysis

Author: Donatella della Porta

Publisher: Polity

Published: 2015-05-04

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780745688589

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Recent years have seen an enormous increase in protests across the world in which citizens have challenged what they see as a deterioration of democratic institutions and the very civil, political and social rights that form the basis of democratic life. Beginning with Iceland in 2008, and then forcefully in Egypt, Tunisia, Spain, Greece and Portugal, or more recently in Peru, Brazil, Russia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Ukraine, people have taken to the streets against what they perceive as a rampant and dangerous corruption of democracy, with a distinct focus on inequality and suffering. This timely new book addresses the anti-austerity social movements of which these protests form part, mobilizing in the context of a crisis of neoliberalism. Donatella della Porta shows that, in order to understand their main facets in terms of social basis, strategy, and identity and organizational structures, we should look at the specific characteristics of the socioeconomic, cultural and political context in which they developed. The result is an important and insightful contribution to understanding a key issue of our times, which will be of interest to students and scholars of political and economic sociology, political science and social movement studies, as well as political activists.

Grievances and Public Protests
Grievances and Public Protests

Author: Martín Portos

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-08-20

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 3030534057

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This book sheds light on the role that grievances play for mobilisation dynamics in a context of material deprivation. Why do people protest? To what extent do grievances account for the varying size of protest events over time? Covering different levels of analysis, the author argues that effects of socioeconomic aspects (both objective-material deprivation and subjective-attitudinal grievances) are mediated by political attitudes, especially political dissatisfaction. He develops a framework to account for the dynamics, trajectory and timing of the cycle of contention that unfolded in Spain in the shadow of the Great Recession, contributing not only to the field of social movement studies but to our broader understanding of European politics, political sociology, political economy and economic sociology.

The European Social Model in Crisis
The European Social Model in Crisis

Author: Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2015-04-30

Total Pages: 640

ISBN-13: 1783476567

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This is the first book to provide a comprehensive and systematic assessment of the impact of the crisis and austerity policies on all elements of the European Social Model. This book assesses the situation in each individual EU member state on the basi