Building the New Europe: Western and Eastern Roads to Social Partnership

[Excerpt] While the ways in which neoliberalism and economic integration undermine social partnership and the welfare state have been extensively studied, less attention has been given to the ways in which such economic forces may push actors together, in reinvigorated bargaining relationships, to find workable solutions to difficult problems. In his article, we examine the contemporary status of social partnership in four case study countries—Germany, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria and Poland—as well as for Europe as a whole. In the west, while Germany presents a case of established social partnership under pressure, the United Kingdom has stood over the past two decades on the opposite neoliberal side. In the east, Bulgaria is one of the more developed cases of post-communist tripartism, while Poland exemplifies a weaker tripartism that emerged at a later stage of the transformation process. In selecting more and less developed social partnership cases in both west and east, we test the argument that the rise of Thatcher/Reagan/ Friedman ‘free market economics’ is paradoxically driving a resurgence and consolidation of social partnership relations across the new (both western and eastern) Europe

Insertion as an alternative to workfare: active labour market schemes in the Parisian suburbs

Many governments have tightened the link between welfare and work by attaching conditionality to out-of-work benefits, extending these requirements to new client groups, and imposing market competition and greater managerial control in service delivery – principles typically characterised as ‘workfare’. Based on field research in Seine-Saint-Denis, we examine French ‘insertion’ schemes aimed at disadvantaged but potentially job-ready clients, characterized by weak conditionality, low marketization, strong professional autonomy, and local network control. We show that insertion systems have resisted policy attempts to expand workfare derived principles, reflecting street-level actors’ belief in the key advantages of the former over the latter. In contrast with arguments stressing institutional and cultural stickiness, our explanation for this resistance thus highlights the decentralized network governance of front-line services and the limits to central government power

9 Women's Work and the Family

The effects of a working woman's occupational activities on her family are varied and diverse. On the one hand they help raise her family's living standards and expand its social contacts. On the other they promote the development of the woman's personality and thereby raise her social status, enrich her intellectual and cultural life, and sharply enhance her role in family and daily life. This, in turn, promotes equality in the family and the rational division and sharing of domestic work.

In vitro propagation of Angelica pancicii Vauds., an endangered plant species in Bulgaria

6 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables, 21 references.Angelica pancicii (Vands.) is an endemic, endangered, protected species in Bulgaria. This situation is mainly due to the excess of harvesting and the difficulties of seed germination and plant propagation. Seeds from mature fruits harvested in different areas of Bulgaria were used as plant material. Later in Seville (Spain) the seeds were subjected to different germination methods and the seedlings multiplicated in vitro. Seeds did not germinate using traditional germination methods, even when seed cold storage (4 months at 4°C) and GA3 applications were used. Combining seed cold storage (2 months at 4°C) and in vitro culture on 1/3 MS medium with 30 mg. l-1 of GA3 a high level of germination was reached (63%). In vitro culture of isolated embryos was a third method of germination investigated. Though the germination level with this method did not overcome that of the in vitro germinated seeds, germination time was clearly decreased and seed cold storage was unnecessary. Whole plantlets (87%) were regenerated from rhizoma seedling explants by culturing in vitro, first on MS medium with 2 mg.l-1 BAP (multiplication) and then on the same medium with 1 mg.l-1 NAA (rooting). After 60 days of in vitro culture, both seedlings and plantlets were successfully transplanted and hardened to outside conditions, from which well developed plants were obtained.Peer reviewe