Reforming Europe

Europe is experiencing a threefold crisis with economic, institutional as well as political dimensions. The crisis is first economic as European countries have endured the most severe recession since World War Two. This recession exposed the weaknesses of European governance, i.e. of the macroeconomic policies but also of the EU institutions. A crisis of trust results from those events. Indeed, the difficulties to overcome the crisis have caused a drop in European citizens’ support towards the EU. In this context, the on-going public debate is monopolized by the two extreme positions of self-satisfaction and Euroscepticism. The former has its roots in the fact that the reforms implemented during the crisis have enabled the euro and the EU to survive. At the opposite, the depth of the crisis has fed Eurosceptic views arguing in favour of restoring national currencies as well as the primacy of domestic norms. The contributions of this volume tend to reject both visions. Our ambition is indeed to feed the public debate by exploring different possibilities of reform for the EU. Given the multidimensional nature of the on-going crisis, a multidisciplinary approach is followed throughout this special issue in order to grasp the political, legal and economic aspects of the debate

Globalization and Labour in the Twenty-First Century

Globalisation has adversely affected working-class organisation and mobilisation; but international labour movement demobilisation is not necessarily an irreversible trend. Globalisation has prompted workers and their organisations to find new ways to mobilise. This book examines international labour movement opposition to globalisation. It chronicles and critically scrutinizes the emergence of distinctively new forms of labour movement organisation and mobilisation that constitute creative initiatives on the part of labour, which present capitalism with fresh challenges. The author identifies eight characteristics of globalisation that have proven problematic to workers and their organisations and describes and analyses how they have responded to these challenges since 1990 and especially in the past decade. In particular, it focuses attention on new types of labour movement organisation and mobilisation that are not simply defensive reactions but are offensive and innovative responses that compel corporations to behave more responsively and responsibly towards employees and society at large. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of globalisation, political economy, labour politics, economics, Marxism and sociology of work

What is wrong with inequality?

This article lays out the reasons we have for objecting to certain differences between what individuals have and in how they relate to one another. Our aim is to show that there is a plurality of reasons to be concerned with such differences and not simply with the absolute amount that each individual has considered independently. Furthermore, we argue against a limited focus on income inequality. Other forms of inequality can also matter

Flirting with disaster: explaining excessive public debt accumulation in Italy and Belgium

The sovereign debt-­‐crises that recently unfolded in Europe highlight how incompletely we understand why prosperous developed countries persistently accumulate debt even in the face of risk of fiscal turmoil. Scholarly research explored why countries run deficits, but it remains unexplained why countries fail to put their fiscal houses in order once public debt reaches potentially dangerous proportions. This thesis argues that the key to the problem of excessive debt accumulation is the lack of compromise among powerful socio-­‐economic groups within the polity about the distribution of the necessary fiscal sacrifices. As long as each group finds it expedient to resist spending cuts and tax increases that place part of the burden of consolidation on its members, stabilization is delayed and debt is allowed to grow. The readiness of groups to reach a compromise and accept a share of the fiscal pain is a function of the economic harm each suffers from the side-­‐effects of fiscal imbalances, such as high inflation or declining international competitiveness. Therefore, the insulation of socio-­‐ economic actors from such side-­‐effects delays stabilization. This perspective sheds new light on unintended consequences of EMU-­‐membership. This explanation is couched in a society-­‐centred analysis of policy making. The thesis identifies coalitions of societal interest to explain policy choices, along the lines laid down in Gourevitch’s Politics in Hard Times (1986) and it uses Alesina and Drazen’s (1991) war of attrition model of delayed stabilization to analyse the costs and benefits for socio-­‐economic groups of resisting fiscal pain. Using this approach, it provides theoretically guided historical analyses of Belgium’s and Italy’s experiences with excessive debt accumulation in the 1980s, consolidation in the 1990s and mixed results in the 2000s, demonstrating how the interests of societal groups shaped the politics of fiscal policy-­‐making and investigating the effect of the EMU accession on fiscal outcomes

Changing Governance, Business Elites, and Local Regulation in Nashville

In this dissertation, I explore how power and governance in Nashville is related to economic and institutional change on a national and global scale—the transition from Fordism to post-Fordism. By investigating the political and social institutions of the city, it is my objective to understand how the elites are operating to control and direct development. The study is an in-depth look at the activities of local business and how they decide to respond in a situation of change and uncertainty. Here I stress the importance of collective action among the business elite, which is equally meaningful to explore as the notion of capitalism driven by competition. The period of analysis stretches from the 1980s to the late 1990s; but the early 1990s was a particularly crucial time period in Nashville when a new local regime emerged as a catalyst for the local post-Fordist mode of regulation. New forms of governance, which reached maturation stage during the 1990s, have evolved in Nashville affecting both political and business institutions. Governance is increasingly based on power diffusion, transparency and inclusiveness in decision-making, yet dominated by business-friendly policies, which should be viewed in the context of urban competition and the need to position the city to take advantage of economic restructuring. To comprehend the interaction between local development and the national regime, I have studied three relevant policy areas that can exemplify the nature of competitive governance: image and city promotion; airport development; and emerging engagement of business interests in social policy as exemplified by education. The first two areas conform to the idea of the city driven by entrepreneurial considerations, while the latter concerns social reproduction. All cases, however, depend on the capacity of business to pursue its goals through collective action

Three Risky Decades: A Time for Econophysics?

Our Special Issue we publish at a turning point, which we have not dealt with since World War II. The interconnected long-term global shocks such as the coronavirus pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and catastrophic climate change have imposed significant humanitary, socio-economic, political, and environmental restrictions on the globalization process and all aspects of economic and social life including the existence of individual people. The planet is trapped—the current situation seems to be the prelude to an apocalypse whose long-term effects we will have for decades. Therefore, it urgently requires a concept of the planet's survival to be built—only on this basis can the conditions for its development be created. The Special Issue gives evidence of the state of econophysics before the current situation. Therefore, it can provide excellent econophysics or an inter-and cross-disciplinary starting point of a rational approach to a new era

Managing Development

Globalization in the 1990s provided both opportunities and challenges for developing and transition economies. Though for some, it offered the chance to achieve economic growth through active involvement in the integrated and liberalized world economy, it also increased their vulnerability to external shocks and volatility. As a consequence, stakeholders at every level of the development and transition process – international organizations, national governments and the private sector – had to review their strategies in order to adjust to the new world economic environment. As the Mexican peso crisis of 1994-1995 and the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998 showed dramatically, the cost of maladjustment was not only very high but it also affected many more stakeholders than before, due to the contagious effects of crises. This revealing book analyzes the different methods employed to manage globalization and development. Bringing together an international team of contributors, including Barbara Stallings, Alicia Giron and J. C. Ferraz, it will prove to be a valuable resource for those involved in the fields of development economics and political economy

Liberalization, Financial Instability and Economic Development

Weighing up the costs and benefits of economic interdependence in a finance-driven world, this book argues that globalization, understood and promoted as absolute freedom for all forms of capital, has been oversold to the Global South, and that the South should be as selective about globalization as the North. ‘Liberalization, Financial Instability and Economic Development’ challenges the orthodoxy on the link between financial deepening and economic growth, as well as that between the efficiency of financial markets and the benefits of liberalization. Ultimately, the author urges developing countries to control capital flows and asset bubbles, preventing financial fragility and crises, and recommends regional policy options for managing capital flows and exchange rates

Die Rolle der Finanzorganisationen in Ostmittel- und Suedosteuropa

Die Südosteuropa-Studien werden von der in München ansässigen Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft, der wichtigsten Wissenschaftsorganisation der Südosteuropa-Forschung im deutschsprachigen Raum, herausgegeben. Sie dienen der vertieften und interdisziplinären wissenschaftlichen Darstellung wichtiger Themen aus der Südosteuropa-Forschung. Auch Fragen zur aktuellen politischen und sozio-ökonomischen Entwicklung in der Region Südosteuropa werden aufgegriffen. Herausgeber der Einzelbände sind renommierte Repräsentanten der deutschen und internationalen Südosteuropa-Forschung.</P