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‘Bloody Subcontracting’ in the Network Society: Migration and Post‐Fordist Restructuring across the European Union

Carl-Ulrik Schierup

in Migration, Citizenship, and the European Welfare State: A European Dilemma

This chapter discusses the emergence of downgraded and informal sectors of European labour markets staffed by socially marginal migrants and ethnic minorities. These parts of the economy and the ... More

This chapter discusses the emergence of downgraded and informal sectors of European labour markets staffed by socially marginal migrants and ethnic minorities. These parts of the economy and the labour market seem to represent a ‘pre-modern’ regression in terms of organization and management. Yet the processes through which this occurs are part and parcel of advanced capitalist strategies of deregulation for the enhancement of ‘flexibility’ in terms of a networked economy and society and a fragmented labour market. This point is illustrated by case studies of industrial restructuring from Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal. These examples exhibit advanced corporate strategies heading the ongoing restructuring of the political economy and European societies, and reflect processes typical for different economic sectors. The cases also demonstrate the impact of the different national institutional contexts and welfare regimes in which these strategies of restructuring are embedded.Less

The Production‐Push Factors: The Political Economy of Labor Shedding

Bernhard Ebbinghaus

in Reforming Early Retirement in Europe, Japan and the USA

This chapter analyzes the economic ‘push’ factors that lead to early exit from work. Some firms co-sponsor early retirement via occupational pensions in order to facilitate restructuring. ... More

This chapter analyzes the economic ‘push’ factors that lead to early exit from work. Some firms co-sponsor early retirement via occupational pensions in order to facilitate restructuring. Deindustrialization, mass unemployment, and privatization have increased structural push, with early exit spreading widely across sectors. Two varieties of capitalism can be observed: early exit is used by firms to adapt to regulated labor markets in Continental coordinated market economies, it is more cyclical and infrequent in Anglophone flexible labor markets, while Japan and Sweden are exceptional cases that integrate older workers.Less

Summary

Scott Barrett

in Environment and Statecraft: The Strategy of Environmental Treaty-Making

This chapter briefly summarizes the book, by developing ten key points.

Introduction

Jochen Clasen

in Reforming European Welfare States: Germany and the United Kingdom Compared

This introductory chapter reflects on the need for in-depth historically sensitive research on the development of advanced welfare states. Contrasting the diverging trends and social and economic ... More

This introductory chapter reflects on the need for in-depth historically sensitive research on the development of advanced welfare states. Contrasting the diverging trends and social and economic fortunes in the UK and Germany since the late 1970s, it argues that the two countries have all but undergone a role reversal in terms of their efficiency and sustainability as models of modern social capitalism. The chapter introduces the aims of the book, i.e. empirical investigation into, and causes for, the development of three major social policy domains in the two countries over the past 25 years or so. In order to comprehend similarities and diverging trends, multi-causal accounts at programme level are required.Less

Welfare state reform and restructuring

Jochen Clasen

in Reforming European Welfare States: Germany and the United Kingdom Compared

The chapter puts the book into the context of the contemporary discussion on welfare state reform, and reflects on major concepts and guiding notions, such as retrenchment, re-calibration, and ... More

The chapter puts the book into the context of the contemporary discussion on welfare state reform, and reflects on major concepts and guiding notions, such as retrenchment, re-calibration, and restructuring. It argues in favour of a robust conceptualisation and operationalisation of the ‘dependent variable’, combining both quantitative parameters, such as social spending, with qualitative ‘social rights’ indicators. Furthermore, the chapter underlines the interest both in capturing changes in policy direction (expansion or retrenchment) as well as in assessing policy profiles or patterns of change.Less

Conclusion

Jochen Clasen

in Reforming European Welfare States: Germany and the United Kingdom Compared

This chapter reviews the results of the empirical chapters in the light of conceptual and theoretical discussions in earlier chapters. It argues that historically sensitive diachronic comparisons of ... More

This chapter reviews the results of the empirical chapters in the light of conceptual and theoretical discussions in earlier chapters. It argues that historically sensitive diachronic comparisons of policy programmes are particularly suited for a systematic empirical welfare state analyses. Reviewing factors which impinged on policy change, it argues for a multi-causal accounts of change taking account of institutional variation and diverse actor constellation across welfare state programmes. It concludes with an assessment of the EU on national policy making which has been fairly modest in the three domains covered, but it likely to gain relevance in all of them.Less

Dealing Comprehensively, and Justly, with Sovereign Debt

Jack Boorman

in Sovereign Debt at the Crossroads: Challenges and Proposals for Resolving the Third World Debt Crisis

This chapter discusses ideas for resolving debt crises. It argues that a narrow focus on debt relief in HIPCs is insufficient and that the activist community and lenders must look to finding broader ... More

This chapter discusses ideas for resolving debt crises. It argues that a narrow focus on debt relief in HIPCs is insufficient and that the activist community and lenders must look to finding broader measures of foreign aid and creating a fair trading environment. In the end, finding the “right” level of debt relief is impossible and ignores the more important aim of delivering a better life to impoverished people. Support is given to a proposal floated by the IMF for a sovereign debt restructuring mechanism (SDRM) to resolve pending debt crises in developing countries.Less

The IMF's SDRM—Simply Disastrous Rescheduling Management?

Kunibert Raffer

in Sovereign Debt at the Crossroads: Challenges and Proposals for Resolving the Third World Debt Crisis

This chapter argues that that the IMF's sovereign debt restructuring mechanism (SDRM) is misguided in several ways. Most importantly, the SDRM proposal leaves the IMF itself in the position of having ... More

This chapter argues that that the IMF's sovereign debt restructuring mechanism (SDRM) is misguided in several ways. Most importantly, the SDRM proposal leaves the IMF itself in the position of having to make two crucial decisions: whether to endorse a stay of payments to creditors, and what amount of debt is “sustainable”, i.e., how much debt should be written off. This decision-making capacity creates a conflict of interest, as the IMF itself is almost always a creditor to countries experiencing debt crises. As an alternative to the IMF's SDRM, a mechanism modeled on Chapter 9 of the US bankruptcy code is proposed, which applies to municipalities and resolves some of the knotty problems of dealing with public (as compared with private) insolvency. This approach would rely on ad hoc panels formed by the debtor and creditor committees and therefore would not require that the IMF serve as arbitrator.Less

Exchange Rate Management and Micro Tools for Macro-Management

Joseph E. Stiglitz, José Antonio Ocampo, Shari Spiegel, Ricardo Ffrench-Davis, and Deepak Nayyar

in Stability with Growth: Macroeconomics, Liberalization and Development

This chapter looks at exchange rate management and other policy options for an open economy. It begins with an introductory discussion of overall macroeconomic management for open economies, ... More

This chapter looks at exchange rate management and other policy options for an open economy. It begins with an introductory discussion of overall macroeconomic management for open economies, including the issues of internal and external balance and inflation targeting. It then examines how countries can attempt to manage the exchange rate. Topics covered in this section include the benefits of maintaining an undervalued exchange rate in some developing countries, government interventions to smooth out exchange rate fluctuations, and the trade-off between stability and flexibility when choosing an exchange rate regime. The chapter concludes with an analysis of other policy options in open economies, including heterodox microeconomic interventions, public sector liability management, and debt restructuring.Less

Chapter 4

Georgina Waylen

in Engendering Transitions: Women's Mobilization, Institutions and Gender Outcomes

The final part of the book deals with the relationship between transitions to democracy, women's substantive representation, and policy outcomes. It completes the analysis of the circumstances under ... More

The final part of the book deals with the relationship between transitions to democracy, women's substantive representation, and policy outcomes. It completes the analysis of the circumstances under which a transition to democracy can alter different women's access to policymaking and with what results. After examining women's access to policymaking and gender policies under state socialist and authoritarian regimes, it moves on to look at post-transition outcomes. It focuses on the machinery of the state with regard to women, constitutional/legal frameworks, and codes, before turning to look at gender policy outcomes in three different areas: divorce and family law, domestic violence, and reproductive rights, particularly abortion. The final section examines how the social and economic transitions that have so often accompanied transition to democracy are gendered through an exploration of market reforms and welfare structuring.Less

Brazilian Firms and the Challenge of Competitiveness

Thomaz Wood Jr and Miguel P. Caldas

in Can Latin American Firms Compete?

Since the late 1980s, Mexican firms have faced a variety of environmental changes including the privatization of state-owned firms, opening of markets to foreign trade and investment, increased ... More

Since the late 1980s, Mexican firms have faced a variety of environmental changes including the privatization of state-owned firms, opening of markets to foreign trade and investment, increased domestic and foreign competition, political change, and economic crises. Mexican firms have increasingly undertaken new strategies: many have expanded into foreign markets while others have ‘restructured’ their portfolios of diversified subsidiaries. This chapter examines the degree to which increasing international and sector diversification is related to improved firm performance. Interviews were conducted with executives from over a dozen of the largest firms in Mexico to obtain answers to the research question. The results indicate that, in general, expanding businesses across sectors and outside of Mexico led to more stable and sustainable performance.Less

France Directing Adjustment?

Jonah D. Levy

in Welfare and Work in the Open Economy Volume II: Diverse Responses to Common Challenges in Twelve Countries

The Bismarckian welfare state in France is financed by social security contributions to an even greater degree than is true in Germany. During the oil‐price crises of the 1970s and early 1980s, job ... More

The Bismarckian welfare state in France is financed by social security contributions to an even greater degree than is true in Germany. During the oil‐price crises of the 1970s and early 1980s, job losses could be contained through an expansion of nationalized industries and subsidies to private firms. This changed with the end of dirigisme in industry after 1983. Thereafter, early retirement was expanded to absorb the massive job losses caused by industrial restructuring. Since rising non‐wage labour costs impeded job creation in the private services, the government has shifted part of the burden to a special income tax, whereas attempts by successive governments to reduce the generosity of welfare benefits were typically blocked by large‐scale public protests.Less

Any Way out of ‘Exit from Work’? Reversing the Entrenched Pathways of Early Retirement

Bernhard Ebbinghaus

in Welfare and Work in the Open Economy Volume II: Diverse Responses to Common Challenges in Twelve Countries

After the first oil‐price crisis, many (but not all) OECD countries used early retirement as an adaptation to industrial restructuration, mass unemployment, the social needs of older workers, and the ... More

After the first oil‐price crisis, many (but not all) OECD countries used early retirement as an adaptation to industrial restructuration, mass unemployment, the social needs of older workers, and the employment needs of young and female job seekers. As the costs of an increasingly inactive population rose, however, while expected employment effects failed to materialize, reformers sought to reverse the course of ‘welfare without work’. Besides blocking the pathways of early retirement, disability, and long‐term unemployment, welfare states are now stressing new forms of part‐time pension, extension, and equalization of normal pension age, and they are trying to shift responsibilities and costs to individuals and firms.Less

Coping With Permanent Austerity Welfare State Restructuring in Affluent Democracies

Paul Pierson

in The New Politics of the Welfare State

This concluding chapter argues that the contemporary politics of the welfare state takes shape against a backdrop of both intense pressures for austerity and enduring popularity. In this context, ... More

This concluding chapter argues that the contemporary politics of the welfare state takes shape against a backdrop of both intense pressures for austerity and enduring popularity. In this context, even strong supporters of the welfare state may come to acknowledge the need for adjustment, and even severe critics may need to accept the political realities of continuing popular enthusiasm for social provision. Thus, in most of the affluent democracies, the politics of social policy centre on the renegotiation, restructuring, and modernization of the terms of the post‐war social contract rather than on its dismantling. The crucial issue is whether particular national settings facilitate the emergence of such a centrist reform effort, and if so, on what terms. The argument proceeds in three stages: in the first, a basic framework is outlined for studying the politics of reform in a context of permanent austerity; in the second, two complications are discussed — the need to incorporate different dimensions of social policy reform and the need to recognize three quite distinct configurations of welfare state politics among the affluent democracies; in the third, these arguments are applied to analyse the politics of restructuring in the liberal, social democratic, and conservative ‘worlds’ (regimes) of welfare capitalism.Less