Aiming High: Progressive Politics in a High-Risk, High-Opportunity Era - Softcover

Ranft, Florian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1786600994 ISBN 13: 9781786600998

Verlag: Policy Network, 2016

Inhaltsangabe

Brings together a wide array of authors and ideas focusing on institutional change, new policies and political narratives to meet the challenges of progressive governance in a high-opportunity, high-risk era.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Florian Ranft is Head of Policy and International at Policy Network. Jacqueline O'Reilly is Professor of Comparative Human Resources at the University of Sussex Business School.

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Aiming High

Progressive Politics in a High-Risk, High-Opportunity Era

By Florian Ranft

Rowman & Littlefield International, Ltd.

Copyright © 2016 Policy Network
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-78660-099-8

Contents

Acknowledgements, ix, 
About the Contributors, xi, 
Introduction, 1, 
PART I BIG PICTURE: ON 21ST CENTURY REALITIES, 11, 
1 Rebuilding Economic and Political Capital for EU Integration Silvia Merler, 13, 
2 The Future of the Welfare State Peter A Hall, 23, 
3 The Rise of Challenger Parties and the Decline of the European Left Sara Hobolt and Catherine de Vries, 37, 
4 Beyond the Third Way: A New Inclusive Prosperity for the 21st Century Ed Balls, 47, 
PART II ECONOMICS: INNOVATION, COMPETITIVENESS AND SMART REGULATION, 59, 
5 A Digital Progressive Project Karen Kornbluh, 61, 
6 The Digital Economy – A Platform for Centre-Left Revival? Paul Hofheinz, 69, 
7 Women's Labour Market Participation – Continuing Challenges in Sweden Moira Nelson and Dalia Mukhtar-Landgren, 75, 
8 Fuelling Future Growth in Europe Carlotta de Franceschi, 83, 
9 Creative Destruction and the Changing Geography of European Jobs Thor Berger, 89, 
10 The Rise of the Citizen Expert Beth Simone Noveck, 95, 
PART III SOCIAL POLICY: UPSKILLING AND SOCIAL INVESTMENT, 103, 
11 Preventative Policy in Action – North Rhine-Westphalia Hannelore Kraft, 105, 
12 The Changing Nature of Jobs – And a Policy Agenda on Education and Training for High-Value Jobs Lodewijk Asscher, 111, 
13 Training and Protecting in the Innovating Economy Pierre-Yves Geoffard, 119, 
14 A Modern and Fair Labour Market Agenda for Europe Enrique Fernandez-Macias, 125, 
PART IV POLITICS: COALITION-BUILDING IN AN AGE OF POLITICAL FRAGMENTATION, 133, 
15 The Future is an Opportunity, Not a Threat – If Progressives Get the Message Right Frank Stauss, 135, 
16 If Political Parties Were Startups ... Guillaume Liegey, 143, 
17 Reflections on the Centre Left in Europe and Latin America Andrés Velasco, 155, 
18 Politics in the New Hard Times Andrew Gamble, 161, 

CHAPTER 1

REBUILDING ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CAPITAL FOR EU INTEGRATION

Silvia Merler

Europe has been divided for much of its history, until the creation of the European Union introduced a 'new' peaceful and cooperating reality. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for over six decades [having] contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe". The announcement came at a time when the hardship of navigating through the economic crisis was putting enormous strain on political cohesion within the EU. Today, as new challenges emerge, the EU appears to be more divided than ever since its creation. The divide is especially evident in the eurozone, where integration was the strongest before the crisis, and where economic, social and political divides persist today. At the broader EU level, strong centripetal forces were evident in the UK's urgency to renegotiate its 'status' within the EU and in the increasingly frequent tensions over the management of the refugee crisis. This contribution focuses on the eurozone, where the sharing of a single currency induces the deepest economic integration and imposes the need for the strongest political cohesion. It will look at the recent trends of Europeans' trust and satisfaction with the EU project and link them with the ongoing economic challenges, with the aim of highlighting relevant policy priorities.

THE FADING EUROPEAN POLITICAL CAPITAL

For a supranational union such as the EU, the trust of Europeans in EU institutions is an especially important metric of legitimacy. Data from the European commission's Eurobarometer survey shows that trust in the European institutions has been declining everywhere across eurozone member states since the beginning of the crisis, although more markedly so in those countries that have undergone adjustment programmes. In 2008 – before the outbreak of the global financial crisis – almost 75 per cent of respondents across Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain declared they tended to trust the European parliament, the European commission and the European Central Bank (ECB). By the end of 2013, the percentage had dropped to only 25 per cent on average across the same countries. Figure 1.1 suggests that trust levels in EU institutions bounced back in 2014 and 2015 in the programme countries, as well as in France and Italy (where it had declined but less markedly). Across those countries on which the impact of the eurozone crisis was less traumatic – ie Austria, Belgium, Germany, Finland and the Netherlands – trust in EU institutions decreased between 2008 and 2011 and has remained flat since then (see Figure 1.1).

Trust in national institutions appears to have been historically lower than trust in European institutions, with only 55-60 per cent of respondents declaring trust at the pre-crisis peak in 2007. Since then, things have evolved very differently across Europe. National institutions have lost sizable amount of trust in programme countries as well as in France and Italy, whereas they have gained in trust compared to EU institutions across those countries that were less severely affected by the crisis (see Figure 1.2).

Particularly worrisome for a union that holds democracy among its core founding values, Europeans appear very dissatisfied with the way democracy works in the EU and in their own countries. The percentage of Eurobarometer respondents declaring to be "very satisfied" or "fairly satisfied" with "democracy in the EU" dropped from 75 per cent in 2007 to 30 per cent in 2013 across those countries that underwent macroeconomic adjustment programmes. Satisfaction with democracy in citizens' home countries has been in free fall since 2007, dropping from 70 per cent to 25 per cent in 2013. The latest data suggests a rebound in satisfaction with democracy at both the EU and country level, but the rebound is from a very low level and it might still be fragile (Figure 1.3).

THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ROOTS OF THE DIVIDE

Europeans' evident distrust and dissatisfaction with the EU is strongly grounded in the economic crisis and its sizable social impact. The crisis brought back unemployment levels that had not been seen for a very long time. The unemployment rate for the Eurozone as a whole grew from 7.5 per cent in 2007 to 12 per cent in 2013, but the increase was very unbalanced across countries, with the figure reaching as high as 26-27 per cent in Greece and Spain. Moreover, unemployment hit the young generations especially hard. Across Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal, youth unemployment rates reached as high as 50 per cent on average in 2013 (Figure 1.4).

In the programme countries, as well as in France and Italy, youth unemployment has not only increased, but it has also become more persistent. The percentage of those who have been unemployed for longer than one year has increased considerably, and the entire distribution has shifted towards longer unemployment periods. In 2007 those who had been unemployed for longer than one year constituted less than 20 per cent of the total unemployed on average across the programme countries, whereas in 2014 they accounted for 42 per cent. A similar (although less sizable) increase is also found in France and Italy, whereas it is not common across countries in the so-called 'north' of the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Policy Network
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2016
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1786600994
• ISBN 13: 9781786600998
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 188
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Friedensallee 273; Hamburg; 22763; Deutschland