How Democratic Practice Matters

2019 ◽  
pp. 101-132
Author(s):  
Robert M. Fishman
Keyword(s):  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Test Cases ◽  
Exogenous Shock ◽  
Initial Form ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Democratic Practice ◽  
Important Test

This chapter examines a large range of consequences of what the book conceptualizes as “the Iberian divide in political inclusion,” that is, the major contrast between Portugal and Spain in democratic practice. The analysis shows that Portugal has made more progress than Spain creating employment, limiting poverty, and improving educational outcomes. Contrasts in the evolution of the welfare state are taken up along with explanations for the major difference between the neighboring countries in the magnitude of unemployment. Differences in cultural tastes and in patterns of civic engagement are also examined. The chapter identifies and considers possible lines of criticism of the analysis. Evidence from two important test cases that developed after the book’s theoretical claims had been developed in initial form—namely the exogenous shock of the Great Recession and the conflict over the demand for Catalan independence—are taken up separately in other chapters.

Air Pollution and Trade: The Case of China

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-346
Author(s):  
Jin Qin ◽  
◽  
Ivan T. Kandilov ◽  
Roger H. von Haefen ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Sulfur Dioxide ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Annual Data ◽  
Exogenous Shock ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Sulfur Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Emissions Intensity

We estimate the effects of trade on air pollution in China. To address endogeneity concerns, we use an instrumental variable strategy that treats the Great Recession as an exogenous shock that differentially affected China’s coastal provinces, which export a greater volume of manufacturing as they are closer to navigable waters. In our empirical analysis, we employ annual data on emissions of sulfur dioxide as well as smoke and dust at the province level from 2003 to 2015 to measure air pollution intensity (the ratio of air pollution to GDP), and we also use fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations data derived from satellite imagery as a robustness check. We find that a decrease in trade intensity (the ratio of trade to GDP) by 10 percentage points (a negative trade shock similar to what occurred during the Great Recession) increases sulfur dioxide emissions intensity by about 38 percentage points. Emissions of the other two air pollutants grow by similar proportions.

The Historian's Eye

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Frye Jacobson
Keyword(s):  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
American History ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
Public Monuments ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
Street Theater ◽  
Introductory Essay

Between 2009 and 2013, as the nation contemplated the historic election of Barack Obama and endured the effects of the Great Recession, Matthew Frye Jacobson set out with a camera to explore and document what was discernible to the "historian's eye" during this tumultuous period. Having collected several thousand images, Jacobson began to reflect on their raw, informal immediacy alongside the recognition that they comprised an archive of a moment with unquestionable historical significance. This book presents more than 100 images alongside Jacobson's recollections of their moments of creation and his understanding of how they link past, present, and future. The images reveal diverse expressions of civic engagement that are emblematic of the aspirations, expectations, promises, and failures of this period in American history. Myriad closed businesses and abandoned storefronts stand as public monuments to widespread distress; omnipresent, expectant Obama iconography articulates a wish for new national narratives; flamboyant street theater and wry signage bespeak a common impulse to talk back to power. Framed by an introductory essay, these images reflect the sober grace of a time that seems perilous, but in which “hope” has not ceased to hold meaning.

Employment Policy in Spain

2020 ◽  
pp. 577-592
Author(s):  
Mariely López-Santana
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Employment Policy ◽  
Employment Policies ◽  
Labour Market Policies ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Territorial Organization

This chapter provides an overview of the emergence, consolidation, recalibration, and liberalization of employment policies in Spain. By identifying five developmental periods, it reviews transformations in the nature and regulation of labour market policies from the early 1900s to the mid-2010s. In addition, it explores changes in the territorial organization and governance of labour-market policies with a focus on decentralization, (re-) centralization, and delegation reforms. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of the Great Recession on Spanish labour market policies and structures, including its dualized labour market. All in all, the chapter sheds much light on the nature and changes of the Spanish welfare state since the early twentieth century.

France at a Crossroads

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Leruth
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Internal Security ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
The World ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
Generous Welfare ◽  
The Welfare State

France has established itself as one of the most ‘generous’ welfare states in the world. The Great Recession of 2007–8 confronted French social policy with escalating unemployment and deepening inequalities. Combined with major pension reforms, these led to strong levels of dissatisfaction across the country, exacerbated by tensions over immigration, Euroscepticism, and internal security problems. This chapter examines how these issues developed in political context and uses material from attitude surveys to analyse existing and future challenges for the welfare state in France. It assesses recent reforms: governments of right and left offered contrasting programmes but failed to win public trust. France now stands at a cross-roads, facing a strong presidential challenge from the anti-immigrant, anti-EU right.

scholarly journals Social Change and The Greek Welfare State Crisis (2010-2020)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikos Kourachanis
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Social Security System ◽  
Security System ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
The Social ◽  
Welfare Model

This article attempts to utilize the concept of social change for the study of transformations in the Greek welfare state during the period of the multiple crises it is currently experiencing (2010–2020). This will be done through an analysis of the changes taking place in the Greek social security system, the backbone of social policy in Greece. The main argument is that, although there are fundamental differences in the development of the Greek welfare state compared to the welfare model of Western European countries, in the last decade there has been a convergence towards a neoliberal model of social policy. The elaboration of this claim will examine those theories of social change that attempt to explain the transition from the Keynesian to the neoliberal welfare state both in the period after 1970 and in the period after the Great Recession of 2008. The development of the Greek social security system over time is then examined, with a particular focus on the decade from 2010–2020. This will show that, despite the different context for the development of the social security system in Greece, the reforms imposed by austerity policies in the last decade have led to a convergence with the model of the neoliberal welfare state. The trend towards residualization and privatization of the social security system with a focus solely on the management of extreme poverty can be observed as one of the mechanisms of social change that are being adopted.

Consistency versus Responsiveness

2016 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam F. Cayton
Keyword(s):  
Great Recession ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Position Change ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Exogenous Shock ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Political Risks ◽  
Policy Representation

While democratic theory suggests that representatives should be willing to adjust their issue positions to adapt to new circumstances, politicians face serious political risks from “flip flopping.” How do members of Congress balance these risks? Using an original data set of district economic conditions and opinion from 2007 to 2010 and sets of repeated roll call votes, I leverage the exogenous shock of the Great Recession to explain position change on three major economic policies. I find that position change occurs in response to the constituency on final passage votes, but that partisan pressures exert greater influence, especially on procedural votes. This novel test of responsiveness has implications for the nature of policy representation and the mechanisms behind aggregate responsiveness.

scholarly journals The welfare state after the great recession

2012 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 200-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton C. Hemerijck ◽  
Frank Vandenbroucke ◽  
Torben M. Andersen ◽  
Philippe Pochet ◽  
Christophe Degryse ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
The Welfare State
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