debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
As is customary at the start of a new year, imposing statistics and trend forecasts are being trumpeted worldwide. For example, in 2016, China is expected to replace the United States as the world’s largest economy. And, by 2040, India’s population will have reached 1.6 billion, surpassing China’s, which will have stagnated a decade earlier. [...]
European Industry in the Global Competition Europe risks falling behind The financial crisis, the sovereign debt crisis, macroeconomic imbalances, and intra-European tensions are leaving their mark. Europe is in danger of falling behind in the global competition. International rivals in Southeast Asia and North America are revealing Europe’s weaknesses. While countries around the world are [...]
Europe is debilitated with the effects of two years of desperate crisis management. The prescribed treatment resembles the old practice of bloodletting on ailing patients. Growing debts are paid with more loans, and new loans are made dependent on increasingly severe austerity measures. The results are a greater risk of recession, higher interest rates on [...]
In recent decades, in parallel with the reduction of organisational sociology to management theory, industrial policy has been encapsulated in two words: ‘shareholder value’. Based on neo-liberal assumptions about the inherent imperfectability of unregulated markets—for capital as well as labour—this US-dominated discourse has reduced the complexity of the industrial ecosystem to a single question, the [...]
As the financial crisis intensifies, it is becoming increasingly clear that our deeply indebted economies need restructuring. The key focus must be on the signals prices send out to states, firms and households. Due to the dysfunctions of financial markets as well as the euro-zone’s architectural flaws unsustainable capital flows fuelled not only enormous debt [...]
The countries most affected by Europe’s sovereign debt woes and Europe’s most energy dependent countries are largely the same. Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Italy, and Spain all import more than two thirds of their energy requirements. The context is one where Europe depends more generally on a wide range of commodities imported from abroad. The last [...]
The Financial Crisis of 2007 resulted in massive losses of actual and potential output, accompanied by increases in unemployment unmatched since before World War II, increasing by fourteen million in the OECD countries (four million for the Euro zone and almost seven million for the United States alone). Still suffering from the effects of the [...]
Metalworkers will shortly be coming together in Duisburg for the EMF Congress 2011 to set their agenda for the next 4 years. An agenda based on investment, fairness and solidarity. A central pillar of ensuring all 3 elements of this agenda is a proactive industrial policy at European level. A strong sustainable manufacturing base is [...]
All Content