debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
A simultaneous increase in the profit share by 1% point in the major developed and developing countries, leads to a 0.36% decline in global GDP. The dramatic decline in the share of wages in GDP in both the developed and developing world during the neoliberal era of the post-1980s has accompanied lower growth rates at [...]
In a party political broadcast of the UK Labour Party (see below), Labour leader Ed Miliband announces a tougher stance on immigration. Stating that the last Labour government got it wrong he called for ‘maximum transitional controls’ for new EU member states. This has to be seen against the backdrop of the irrational campaign that somehow [...]
Raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 should be a no-brainer. Republicans say it will cause employers to shed jobs, but that’s baloney. Employers won’t outsource the jobs abroad or substitute machines for them because jobs at this low level of pay are all in the local personal service sector (retail, restaurant, hotel, and [...]
For the past decades of economic globalisation, unions around the world have been on the defensive; their role as voices of the political and economic interests of working people has been marginalised. In a climate of outsourcing, offshoring, flexibilisation and casualisation of work, the loss of union power and the deregulation of labour markets has [...]
An ambiguous wage standard is being clarified Back in 2010, the ‘Competitiveness Pact’ launched the slogan of aligning wages with developments in productivity. Since then, this specific wage standard has been surrounded with much ambiguity. Do policy makers mean to say that ‘real’ wages should be in line with productivity developments? Or do we have [...]
Today has probably been the most interesting day in British politics since the general election in 2010. David Cameron has delivered his long-awaited speech on what he thinks the British future in the European Union should be. In his remarks, the British Prime Minister made clear that if he was to be reelected in 2015, [...]
Five years after the international financial crisis hit Spain, and less than two years after the Spanish economy started experiencing a weak recovery, the country has fallen back into recession. Negative economic growth rates of over 0.4% in the first half of 2012 have been accompanied by a worsening labor market situation, with almost 25% [...]
The present EU budget dispute between David Cameron and the other European leaders, which concluded in its expected impasse, is of course an expression of deeper conflicts and divisions in Europe. And if the UK/EU dispute can be taken as emblematic of these divisions – its resolution is of deeper importance than just a bilateral [...]
Introduction I am delighted to be here with you today. And I want to thank you, the representatives of British business, for the extraordinary work you do, especially in the difficult times we face. In the last two years since I spoke to the CBI conference I have been impressed by the work you do, creating wealth, [...]
The Labour Party was congratulating itself yesterday on having joined with Tory rebels to defeat the Tory-led government by voting to cut the EU budget. In truth, this was sheer opportunism. While the two Eds (Miliband and Balls) may believe that supporting belt-tightening in Europe is good populist politics, in truth, Labour has shot itself [...]
Political parties on the European centre-left need to avoid been caught between instrumentalism (the practice of ‘spin’ politics and tactical manipulation); and utopianism (seeking to rediscover lost dreams and visions) The debate following the publication of Policy Network’s programmatic statement, A Centre-Left Project for New Times, has been rich and inspiring. Nonetheless, the conclusions drawn about the state of social democracy have [...]
In 2009 Jon Cruddas and Andrea Nahles published a short pamphlet, Building the Good Society and with the support of Compass and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation it has been debated across Europe. A study by Goettingen University cites this Good Society debate as the most influential current in European Social Democracy. Three years later we [...]
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