debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
Daniel M. Knight writes that the Greek crisis has become a metaphor which many commentators use as a ‘shock tactic’ to press agendas of reform or austerity across Europe. This rhetoric simplifies the effects and intricacies of the crisis on the ground in Greece and ignores its relationship with past crises in Greek history. The Greek [...]
Watch Paul de Beer of the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) discuss the expansion of public services to reduce inequality in the era of austerity. This talk was recorded at the conference ‘From (un)economic growth to future well-being’ organised by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and the European Public Service Union (EPSU) in [...]
Watch Wouter Van Dooren of the University of Antwerp discuss how to measure the contribution of public services and what impact they have on social progress. This talk was recorded at the conference ‘From (un)economic growth to future well-being’ organised by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and the European Public Service Union (EPSU) in Brussels [...]
Social democracy in Europe today is split regarding the role the state should play. Actually social democratic thinking has never been uniform about this question, and our positions have changed over time (including etatist, technological approaches as well as emancipative ideas of civil self-organisation). Concerning Europe we have participated in building our supranational structure with [...]
Neoliberal restructuring and the economic crisis have led to increasing inequality, social polarisation and societal disintegration. That austerity politics fosters these developments is widely acknowledged. Its gender effects, however, are mostly neglected, though, in contrast to the public rhetoric of equal opportunities and gender mainstreaming, gender inequality is rising. This contribution, therefore, focuses on the impact of [...]
Mutualism may be a useful alternative model for public services and private companies but the left must go wider and deeper than that particular model. Social democrats need to embrace the Big Society idea and extend it into the economic realm. In his essay for this series, William Davies makes the observation that while the Government [...]
Following the 3rd Africa-EU Summit in Libya last November, I would like to propose establishing comprehensive health care systems in Africa on the basis of solidarity and sustainable health policy. Health is a human right In the 1948 United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the international community professed the extraordinary significance of the field [...]
We are fighting for a Sustainable Economy, Public Services for all, the Good Society and Multilateral Foreign Policy. We are fighting against Greed and Corruption, Old Politics, Media Manipulation and Racism and Extremism. In my most skeptic or despairing moods, when I am wondering what again it means to be social-democrat, progressive or left-wing, I [...]
The Icelandic real economy has returned to its early post-war growth average of 3,5% to 4% after a dip that lasted from 1980 to 2002/3 (See Rannsóknarnefnd Alþingis 2010). The first years of the new millennium have also been characterized by fast growth in public and private consumption as well as public and private investment. [...]
The ratification of the Lisbon Treaty at the end of last year, following eight years of institutional introspection, gives rise to mixed feelings for proponents of EU integration – relief and an element of exhaustion. The debate on the Treaty pushed its proponents into a corner, to the point where in the end – to [...]
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