Labouring under neoliberalism: The Australian Labor government’s ideological constraint, 2007–2013

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Battin
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Successful Management ◽  
Jel Codes ◽  
Party Government ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Labor Party ◽  
Democratic Principles

When viewed against its ostensibly successful management of the global economic crisis between 2008 and 2013, growing electoral disenchantment with the Australian Labor Party government during that time defied standard explanations and calls for further analysis. A major reason for the party’s electoral loss in 2013 was arguably popular disappointment with its eschewal of social democratic principles. Notwithstanding some progressive measures initiated between 2008 and 2013, successive Australian Labor Party governments were constrained by neoliberal strictures, even when they chose to implement progressive policies. Whatever other reasons exist for its decline in popularity between 2007 and 2013, the Australian Labor Party’s unwillingness or inability to mark out a clear alternative to neoliberalism was fundamental. In making this case, this article uses the conceptual framework of ‘depoliticisation’, defined as the displacement of policy decisions from the sphere of democratic accountability and public debate, making them matters for regulation by technocratic experts operating according to supposed edicts of the market. JEL codes: A14, B59

The French Parti socialiste (2010-16): from office to crisis

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Di Francesco-Mayot
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Socialist Party ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
High Unemployment ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the French Socialist Party (Parti socialiste, PS), which is one of the least successful of the major European social democratic parties. It focuses on the period between the 2008 global financial crisis until the end of François Hollande's presidency in 2017. The crisis of the PS is twofold: first, a political crisis that is revealed by the divisive nature of the Party's internal courants (factions). Whereas the factions initially contributed to the PS's internal democracy, over the past two decades they have significantly affected the PS's cohesiveness and ability to effectively develop and implement necessary policies. And second, an economic crisis that is exemplified by the PS's inability to adapt to its external and internal environments, such as the neoliberal imperatives of the EU, unprecedented high unemployment, and increasing insecurity.

scholarly journals Analisis Peran Negara Di Bidang Ekonomi Dalam Prespektif Sistem Kapitalisme, Sosialisme, Dan Ekonomi Islam

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Kambali
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Economic System ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
The State ◽  
Planning System ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The World ◽  
Low Interest Rates

The economic crisis that convolved the world economy a few years ago is the result of a series of government policies in the economic field. Starting from the Subprime Mortgage in America, the crisis eventually spreads across all sectors of the economy. As analysts say that the explosion of the current economic crisis is caused by the trend of low interest rates that are applied by the Fed. The trend of low interest rates will give rise to expectation of market to future economic situation. It is characterized by the overflow of capital expansion in all sectors, especially in property sector. Today, along with the growing mobility of capital from one country to another as part of unavoidable economic liberalization, mobility of capital, on the one hand, has spawned some of the imbalances in the life of a State. The powerlessness can not be separated from economic ideology and system on state role in the economy. Capitalism with its laissez faire brings the concept of state minimal role in the economy. In the empirical facts, it is broken by the crisis situation in 1930 and today's financial crisis. Socialism tends to carry the central role of the State in the economy through the centralistic planning system. The fall of the Soviet Union in the 1980s brought the world to a choice whether reconstructing capitalism or socialism as Fukuyama and Gidden said. On the other hand, as the new system, the economic system of Islam brings the concept of the role of the State in the economy on the basis of universal values of Islam, such as justice in the economy which is reflected in the mechanism of the prohibition of riba (usury), just income distribution and redistribution of income through zakat and social security. This article is an exposure of the State's role in the economy which is studied through the perspective of today’s economic system. The systems are capitalism, socialism, and Islam. The article not only explores conceptual framework, but also also contains an empirical framework mapping and how the conceptual framework is operated. At the end, from the two mapping (conceptual and empirical), author draws a reflection of how the State should play a role in the economic field. Keywords: Capitalism, Socialism, Islam, Economic Role of State

The light on the hill and the ‘right to work’

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-480
Author(s):  
Victor Quirk
Keyword(s):  
Full Employment ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Jel Codes ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Labor Party ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Right To Work ◽  
The Right ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Hill

In 1945 the Curtin Labor Government declared it had the capacity and responsibility to permanently eliminate the blight of unemployment from the lives of Australians in its White Paper ‘Full Employment in Australia’. This was the culmination of a century of struggle to establish the ‘right to work’, once a key objective of the 19th century labour movement. Deeply resented and long resisted by employer groups, the policy was abandoned in the mid-1970s, without an electoral mandate. Although the Australian Labor Party and union movement urged public vigilance to preserve full employment during 23 years of Liberal rule, after 1978 they quietly dropped the policy as the Australian Labor Party turned increasingly to corporate donors for the money they needed to stay electorally competitive. While few leading lights of today’s Labor movement care to discuss it, it is right that Australians celebrate this bold statement of our right to work, and the 30 years of full employment it heralded. JEL Codes: P16, P35, N37

scholarly journals Is Being Employed Always Better for Mental Wellbeing Than Being Unemployed? Exploring the Role of Gender and Welfare State Regimes during the Economic Crisis

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (23) ◽  
pp. 4799
Author(s):  
Imma Cortès-Franch ◽  
Vanessa Puig-Barrachina ◽  
Hernán Vargas-Leguás ◽  
M. Marta Arcas ◽  
Lucía Artazcoz
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Mental Wellbeing ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Labor Market Regulations ◽  
The Unemployed

The growth of poor jobs related to economic crisis adds to its increase since the mid-1970s as a result of new forms of flexible employment. In Europe, there is no clear evidence on whether working in a poor-quality job is better for mental wellbeing than being unemployed. The objectives of this study were to compare mental wellbeing between the unemployed and those working in jobs with different quality levels and to examine gender and welfare state differences in Europe. We selected 8324 men and 7496 women from the European Social Survey, 2010. Hierarchical multiple logistic regression models were fitted, separated by sex and country group. No significant differences in mental wellbeing were shown between unemployed-non-active, unemployed-active, and those working in low-quality jobs in either sex. Only men from Conservative countries in low-quality jobs had better mental wellbeing than unemployed (non-active) men. Only having a good-quality job reduced the likelihood of poor mental wellbeing compared with being unemployed (non-active) among men in all countries (except Social-Democratic) and among women in Eastern and Southern European countries. No differences were observed among men or women in Social-Democratic countries, while strong gender differences were found in Conservative and Liberal countries. Our study indicates the need to take job quality into account, in addition to creating jobs during economic crises. The main mechanisms to explain the strong gender and welfare state differences identified could be social protection for unemployed, labor market regulations, and family models.

Laying the foundations for parental narcissism

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry Hendrick
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Parent Education ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
New Right ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Social Agenda ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
Children’S Behaviour ◽  
Deprivation Thesis

This chapter considers the foundations of parental narcissism. The chapter begins by referencing the shift from the 'Me' decade to the 'Me' millennium, so as to contextualise two critical political developments: the coming of the New Right and the failure of the Labour Party to counter its influence. The chapter shows how the New Right set about creating the economic and social agenda, not least through Sir Keith Joseph's cycle of deprivation thesis and his growing interest in 'parent education' as an antidote to  1960s permissiveness. The chapter then proceeds to examine the cultural remoralising of Britain that begin to occur in the 1970s with particular reference to the Labour Party's retreat from liberal social democratic principles to those of a more authoritarian character. The rightward (and authoritarian) drift was gradually confirmed by the introduction of the 'new behaviourism' into British psychology and particularly into health visiting and social work, which served to problematise children's behaviour in favour of parental convenience.

scholarly journals ‘Bridges Over Troubled Waters’? The Competitive Symbiosis of Social Democracy and Radical Left in Crisis-Ridden Southern Europe

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-81
Author(s):  
Ioannis Balampanidis ◽  
Ioannis Vlastaris ◽  
George Xezonakis ◽  
Magdalini Karagkiozoglou
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Southern Europe ◽  
Strategic Responses ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Strategic Orientations ◽  
Electoral Cycle ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Radical Left

AbstractDuring the economic crisis, the radical left, especially in countries of the European South, continued its course from marginality to mainstream while social democracy found itself trapped in its previous strategic orientations. This article examines the two political families in a relational and comparative perspective, focusing on the interaction of social democratic and radical left parties that evolved in a series of national cases (Greece, Portugal, Spain and France) and in particular within the political and electoral cycle of 2015–17. The ideological, programmatic and strategic responses of these parties to the critical juncture of the crisis, which mark a convergence or deviation in the paths of the two ‘enemy brothers', shed light on their political and ideological mutations, transformations and/or adaptations.

scholarly journals Doxa of Shareholders and Owners: On the Threshold of Financialization

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Jonnergård ◽  
Ulf Larsson-Olaison
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Institutional Investors ◽  
Shareholder Value ◽  
Corporate Control ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Controlling Shareholders ◽  
Value Perception ◽  
Market For Corporate Control ◽  
Local Actors

Abstract Following financialization, there has emerged an understanding of what it implies to be a shareholder based on the shareholder value perception. However, as this shareholder value perception spreads internationally, it clashes with traditional perceptions. In this paper, we apply the language developed by Bourdieu to a Swedish public debate on equal treatment of shareholders in connection with the reform of the Swedish market for corporate control. Using Bourdieu’s conceptual framework, we describe how a global development interacts with the persistence of national practices. We conclude that in Sweden, local institutional investors have allied themselves with international institutional investors to enhance their positions in the restricted field of Swedish corporate control. Shareholder value is then used by these local actors as an argument to strengthen their position. At the same time, some of the controlling shareholders depart from their traditional position as industrial entrepreneurs and embrace a more financial approach to ownership, thereby altering both the power constellations and the capital, in Bourdieu’s sense, of the field.

Analisis Peran Negara Di Bidang Ekonomi Dalam Prespektif Sistem Kapitalisme, Sosialisme, Dan Ekonomi Islam

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-35
Author(s):  
Muhammad Kambali
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Economic System ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
The State ◽  
Planning System ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The World ◽  
Low Interest Rates

The economic crisis that convolved the world economy a few years ago is the result of a series of government policies in the economic field. Starting from the Subprime Mortgage in America, the crisis eventually spreads across all sectors of the economy. As analysts say that the explosion of the current economic crisis is caused by the trend of low interest rates that are applied by the Fed. The trend of low interest rates will give rise to expectation of market to future economic situation. It is characterized by the overflow of capital expansion in all sectors, especially in property sector. Today, along with the growing mobility of capital from one country to another as part of unavoidable economic liberalization, mobility of capital, on the one hand, has spawned some of the imbalances in the life of a State. The powerlessness can not be separated from economic ideology and system on state role in the economy. Capitalism with its laissez faire brings the concept of state minimal role in the economy. In the empirical facts, it is broken by the crisis situation in 1930 and today's financial crisis. Socialism tends to carry the central role of the State in the economy through the centralistic planning system. The fall of the Soviet Union in the 1980s brought the world to a choice whether reconstructing capitalism or socialism as Fukuyama and Gidden said. On the other hand, as the new system, the economic system of Islam brings the concept of the role of the State in the economy on the basis of universal values ​​of Islam, such as justice in the economy which is reflected in the mechanism of the prohibition of riba (usury), just income distribution and redistribution of income through zakat and social security. This article is an exposure of the State's role in the economy which is studied through the perspective of today’s economic system. The systems are capitalism, socialism, and Islam. The article not only explores conceptual framework, but also also contains an empirical framework mapping and how the conceptual framework is operated. At the end, from the two mapping (conceptual and empirical), author draws a reflection of how the State should play a role in the economic field.

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