debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
People who are lower on the socioeconomic ladder (indicated by their level of education, occupation, or income) have shorter and less healthy lives, on average, than those on higher rungs. Indeed, life expectancy at birth often varies by 5-10 years, depending on social and economic well-being, with poorer people spending 10-20 more years of life [...]
The fiscal austerity doctrine – henceforth FAD – emerged in full force in the Euro area in the first half of 2010. By then, apprehensions of a sovereign debt crisis that have been brewing since the last quarter of 2009 became a harsh reality in the case of Greece. The Greek government signed a bail-out [...]
There is a lot of confusion about the fiscal implications of the government bond-buying programme – the OMT, or Outright Monetary Transactions – that the ECB announced last year. This confusion arises mainly because the principles that guide the solvency of private companies (including banks) are applied to central banks. The level of confusion is [...]
Listening to some EU leaders, you might think the economic crisis is all but over. But nothing could be further from the truth, as the millions of Europeans still suffering unprecedented hardship and deep cuts in living standards know only too well. While policy-makers pay lip-service to the importance of Europe’s ‘social dimension’, their policies [...]
Things have taken a sharp turn for the worse in Turkey and, unfortunately, it is becoming harder and harder to see how to pull back from the brink of disaster. At this moment the Prime Minister is addressing an AKP party rally in Kazlıçeşme in Istanbul. Yesterday, he gave a similar performance in Ankara. The [...]
Having ploughed on through a number of sticky patches over the last 12 months, it would be more than careless of Greece’s coalition government to sink into the mire due to differences over how to deal with public broadcaster ERT. Yet, a year on from when a second election in June led to the formation [...]
Maybe that title is too strong, but there is an arguable case that what happened to Greece in 2010 was crucial in the move to austerity not just in the Eurozone, but in the UK and US too. As most reasonable people now recognise that the global move to austerity was a terrible mistake, understanding [...]
How European pressure is destroying national collective bargaining systems. Collective agreements that extend beyond the immediate workplace or company level are rightly seen as one of the unique institutional features of the European social model. No other world region has any comparably well-developed system of multi-employer collective bargaining in which agreements cover not only entire [...]
It seems that austerity is out of fashion in the eurozone – at least for the moment. The European Commission has given Spain, France, and the Netherlands more time to comply with the European Union’s 3%-of-GDP deficit ceiling. Even German government officials now concede that something more than fiscal belt-tightening is needed to revive the [...]
Attempting to emulate Germany’s economic model is not the cure-all that many British social democrats hope for. A long-standing current of thought within the Labour party has sought to rejuvenate British democracy and economic performance by looking to the ‘social market economies’ on the continent. Under Ed Miliband, the Labour Party’s ideological flirtation with this [...]
Britain’s membership of the European Union continues to be the object of public debate in the UK. Oliver Daddow assesses the history of British opposition to European integration, arguing that current debates are still themed around the legacy of the UK’s historical semi-detachment from Europe. He notes that the UK’s entry into the European Economic Community in the [...]
Taksim Square has become possibly one of the most joyous places on earth at his moment. The atmosphere is charged with a palpable aura of hope and peace. In all my years of living in Istanbul, I have known Taksim, and the Beyoğlu area as a lively, colourful, but somewhat edgy, place. Normally, arriving at [...]
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