scholarly journals The Political Debate on Basic Income and Welfare Reform in Spain

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
José A. Noguera

Two factors have boosted the debate on Basic Income (BI) in Spain in recent years: on the one hand, the combination of welfare budget cuts and growing poverty rates has spread claims for a radical reform of Spanish welfare policies; on the other hand, the emergence of Podemos as a new key actor in the Spanish political arena has generated a vivid discussion on BI and income guarantee proposals. By reviewing the political debates on these proposals, I will argue that economic feasibility concerns and implementation problems are closely related to their political feasibility. Significantly, the radical rejection of ‘means-testing’ by BI defenders fails to grasp the different types and degrees of conditions that an income guarantee system may establish. The main lesson from the Spanish experience is that BI supporters should be ready to compromise and accept generous means-tested guaranteed income programs as stepping-stones.

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 101-121
Author(s):  
Kinga Smoleń

The empirical goal of this paper is to conduct an analysis of the geopolitical dimensions of the TurkStream pipeline, with special consideration given to its determinants as well as a diagnosis of the geopolitical implicationsof its geographical extent. To explore this problem, the following hypotheses are offered. First, the inauguration of the second branch of the TurkStream pipeline in the beginning of 2020 will strengthen the monopolistic positionof Russia as a supplier of natural gas to the countries of the European Union.This will increase the dependency of the EU on Russia and severely hamper itsability to formulate a unified, cohesive energy policy. Second, two factors that underlie the geopolitical importance of the TurkStream pipeline are Turkey’s and Southern Europe’s natural gas needs on the one hand and the political and economic interests of Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine on the other. Third, theTurkStream project should be seen as an instrument that serves to build a tactical partnership between Turkey and Russia – a partnership underpinned by the strategic interests of both countries in the Middle East. Fourth and finally, Russia’s gradual withdrawal from directing its natural gas through Ukraine will generate serious economic problems and potential energy shortages in that country. In the long term, this pressure is geared toward forcing Ukraine to re-evaluate the pro-Western trajectory of its foreign policy.


Author(s):  
Peter Friedrich

Abstract Ferdinand Tönnies’ relationship to the sociology of art and literature was ambivalent and contradictory. On the one hand, the consideration of art and literature plays a role in Tönnies’ theoretical works. On the other hand, in the founding years of sociology, he was opposed to an independent sub-discipline in the sociology of literature because he feared for the unity of the discipline. All the more interesting is the fact that Tönnies repeatedly published on poets and poetry. In addition to articles on Theodor Storm, there are several studies on Friedrich Schiller as a poet and theorist, which show the sociologist as a reader and interpreter of literature. This paper attempts a critical review and classification of these works by Tönnies against the background of the political debate about Schiller in the Schiller anniversary year of 1905.


Author(s):  
Roberto Rossi

Today, historians, philosophers, and scholars of cultural heritage discuss about the relationship between the periodizing labels of historiography and their symbolic employment within the current political rhetoric. To understand the relevance of this issue in Italy, it can be helpful to look at the academic and public debates around the category of “Renaissance”. On the one hand, this article aims to map some notable political uses of this historical figure as a symbol; on the other hand, it reconstructs a tradition of thought focused on the epistemic autonomy of the same category. With these intentions, I look at a group of Italian critics of Johan Huizinga’s aesthetic view of history – like Delio Cantimori, Eugenio Garin, and their heirs within the academic milieu of the “Scuola Normale” of Pisa. Finally, I evaluate whether there is any correspondence between “Renaissance” as a symbol within the political debate and its historiographical employment as a periodizing label.


2016 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-30
Author(s):  
M. K. Thompson

The nature of liberalism was at the heart of the political debate surrounding the first Irish Home Rule bill in Edinburgh. The rhetoric of the campaign was dominated by the fight for the ownership of liberalism, and it was pivotal for all the candidates standing in Edinburgh to present themselves as liberals, and to define their stance on the Irish question by associating it to a core value of liberalism. Democracy and the protection of minorities were the two values used to justify the candidates’ stances on Irish Home Rule, and the perceived threat of Irish Catholicism was often the focus of the associated arguments. The discourse that resulted from this justification centred on a fight to define the essence of liberalism. Therefore, the Irish Home Rule debate in Edinburgh demonstrates that the Liberal split was more nuanced than the traditional assessment of a Whig versus Radical split. Instead, the debate on the Irish question signified the struggle of liberalism.


Author(s):  
Nicolas Wiater

This chapter examines the ambivalent image of Classical Athens in Dionysius of Halicarnassus’ Roman Antiquities. This image reflects a deep-seated ambiguity of Dionysius’ Classicist ideology: on the one hand, there is no question for Dionysius that Athenocentric Hellenicity failed, and that the Roman empire has superseded Athens’ role once and for all as the political and cultural centre of the oikoumene. On the other, Dionysius accepted Rome’s supremacy as legitimate partly because he believed (and wanted his readers to believe) her to be the legitimate heir of Classical Athens and Classical Athenian civic ideology. As a result, Dionysius develops a new model of Hellenicity for Roman Greeks loyal to the new political and cultural centre of Rome. This new model of Greek identity incorporates and builds on Classical Athenian ideals, institutions, and culture, but also supersedes them.


Author(s):  
Ekrem Karakoç

Employing most similar design and process-tracing methodology, this chapter focuses on Poland and the Czech Republic in the postcommunist region. It discusses the divergent paths these two countries have taken since their transitions. After discussing the similarities and dissimilarities of these two cases, it turns to the welfare policies shared by both countries with some differences under their former communist rule. It also traces voter turnout and linkage between political party and citizens, and explores how these two factors have affected social policies in each country. The last section offers a comparison of Polish and Czech social policies regarding the level and nature of their targeted spending and its effect on income inequality.


Author(s):  
Ross McKibbin

This book is an examination of Britain as a democratic society; what it means to describe it as such; and how we can attempt such an examination. The book does this via a number of ‘case-studies’ which approach the subject in different ways: J.M. Keynes and his analysis of British social structures; the political career of Harold Nicolson and his understanding of democratic politics; the novels of A.J. Cronin, especially The Citadel, and what they tell us about the definition of democracy in the interwar years. The book also investigates the evolution of the British party political system until the present day and attempts to suggest why it has become so apparently unstable. There are also two chapters on sport as representative of the British social system as a whole as well as the ways in which the British influenced the sporting systems of other countries. The book has a marked comparative theme, including one chapter which compares British and Australian political cultures and which shows British democracy in a somewhat different light from the one usually shone on it. The concluding chapter brings together the overall argument.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-268
Author(s):  
Vincent Chetail

AbstractThe Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration has prompted an intense political debate at both the international and domestic levels. Most controversies focus on its legal stance and highlight the hybrid character of the Compact as a soft-law instrument. While acknowledging the political nature of the Compact, this paper delves into its legal dimensions from the perspective of international law. This inquiry into its normative content discloses three main features: (1) the Compact is not a codification of international legal norms governing migration; it is an instrument of both (2) consolidation and (3) expansion of international law to foster inter-governmental co-operation and promote safe, orderly and regular migration.


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