scholarly journals Sympathy for the Devil? Exploring Flexicurity Win–Win Promises

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo de Pedraza ◽  
Marcos Álvarez-Díaz ◽  
Marcos Domínguez-Torreiro
Keyword(s):  
Social Rights ◽  
Income Security ◽  
Unemployment Rates ◽  
Golden Triangle ◽  
The Social ◽  
Employment Security ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Devil ◽  
Generous Welfare ◽  
The Eu

Abstract Flexicurity is the combination of more flexibility for employers and more security for workers. It is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon that lacks a well-developed monitoring framework or a statistically consistent grouping of the indicators. First, this paper proposes a conceptual framework by building upon the Wilthagen and Tros (2004) flexicurity matrix and the Danish Golden Triangle. It constructs flexicurity “drivers” by pooling together variables that are conceptually related to each other and a specific type of flexibility or security. Then, it obtains statistically consistent aggregate measures for each driver and selects three drivers that represent the three corners of the Danish “golden triangle”: external numerical flexibility, employment security, and income security. It conducts an empirical analysis on the evolution of the selected flexicurity drivers over time and across European Union (EU) countries and on the relationship between selected flexicurity drivers and social outcomes from the Social Scoreboard of the European Pillar of Social Rights. It finds evidence of convergence on external numerical flexibility and polarization on employment and income security across the EU. It finds that higher flexibility at the onset of the crisis contributed to a reduction in the unemployment rates after the crisis, while a more generous welfare system contributed to reducing poverty. Employment security, however, appears to be linked to the presence of higher levels of income inequality after the crisis.

scholarly journals EU citizenship and social solidarity

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 703-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Mantu ◽  
Paul Minderhoud
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
Free Movement ◽  
Social Solidarity ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Eu Integration ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Eu

In this article, we seek to place the CJEU’s recent case law on social rights for economically inactive EU citizens within the larger political context of the last couple of years that has been characterized by the increased contestation of the type of mobility underpinning EU citizenship. The relationship between EU citizenship and social solidarity – in the form of social rights for mobile EU citizens – has taken centre stage during the Brexit affair. Political debates concerning the free movement of (poor) EU citizens have focused upon the issues of the abuse of free movement rights and welfare tourism, despite a lack of evidence that the two are actually taking place on a large scale within the EU. The now defunct Brexit deal highlights the extension of debates that initially focused on economically inactive EU citizens to EU workers, whose mobility had been considered a positive aspect of EU integration. The scope of social solidarity in the EU is demoted as a result of judicial and political interventions that question the social dimension of EU citizenship and which may have implications for other groups of migrants situated within the EU.

Reading inquiry through the prism of unemployement

2020 ◽  
pp. 201-216
Author(s):  
Guillaume Heuguet
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Science Inquiry ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Role ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

This exploratory text starts from a doctoral-unemployed experience and was triggered by the discussions within a collective of doctoral students on this particularly ambiguous status since it is situated between student, unemployed, worker, self-entrepreneur, citizen-subject of social rights or user-commuter in offices and forms. These discussions motivated the reading and commentary of a heterogeneous set of texts on unemployment, precariousness and the functioning of the institutions of the social state. This article thus focuses on the relationship between knowledge and unemployment, as embodied in the public space, in the relationship with Pôle Emploi, and in the academic literature. It articulates a threefold problematic : what is known and said publicly about unemployment? What can we learn from the very experience of the relationship with an institution like Pôle Emploi? How can these observations contribute to an understanding of social science inquiry and the political role of knowledge fromm precariousness?

scholarly journals Economic Development and the“Social Rights Hypothesis”: Regulating Labour Standards in China

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-331
Author(s):  
Mimi ZOU
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
The Social ◽  
Labour Standards ◽  
Critical Account ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis paper provides a critical account of the various roles that labour-law regulation has played in China’s transition to a market-oriented economy. The analysis aims to contribute new insights to an ongoing debate on the relationship between economic development and legal rules and institutions in China. Discussions of social and labour rights have been on the periphery of a debate that has focused on property and contract rights (the so-called “Rights Hypothesis”). While numerous scholars have sought to debunk the explanatory power of the “Rights Hypothesis” in the case of China, I put forward an alternative “Social Rights Hypothesis.” My proposed hypothesis seeks to explain how labour-law rules and institutions have co-evolved with the emergence of a labour market in China’s economic development. Specifically, labour law has played not only a market-constituting role, but also market-corrective and market-limiting functions.

The promise of flexicurity: Can employment and income security mitigate the negative effects of job insecurity?

2020 ◽  
pp. 0143831X2097547
Author(s):  
Mojca Svetek
Keyword(s):  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Job Security ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Income Security ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Perceived Job Insecurity ◽  
The Eu

Flexicurity is an integral part of the EU Employment Strategy. Flexicurity promises that it is possible to simultaneously provide organisations with greater flexibility and offer workers the necessary level of security. This is achieved by replacing job security, which stems from a permanent employment contract, with employment and income security. The aim of this article is to present an individual-level investigation of the relationships between various elements of flexicurity, examining how they affect psychological well-being and job satisfaction. A heterogeneous sample of 432 adults employed under various types of employment arrangements participated in the study. The results showed that the type of employment arrangement was the main predictor of perceived job insecurity. Moreover, perceived job insecurity mediated the relationship between employment arrangement and psychological outcomes. Finally, employment and income security failed to mitigate the negative effect of job insecurity. The promise of flexicurity is therefore called into question.

scholarly journals The asymmetric evolution of the social case-law of the Court of Justice: new challenges in the context of the European pillar of social rights

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 4-19
Author(s):  
Luis Jimena Quesada
Keyword(s):  
Case Law ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
The Past ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Charter Of Fundamental Rights ◽  
New Framework ◽  
The Eu

The author highlights the paradoxical evolution of CJEU’s case-law in the field of social rights and how in the past, it has played a praetorian role in a context of implied powers and modest EU primary legal provisions whereas now, it is showing clear self-restraint under explicit competences and an evolved EU primary law [including the Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFREU)]. From this perspective, the author proposes the opening of the CJEU to the new framework of the European Pillar of Social Rights, as part of the broader Turin process for the European Social Charter, through positive judicial willingness (by taking into account the synergies between the EU and the Council of Europe – including the case-law from the European Committee of Social Rights).

The EU and the European Social Charter: Never the Twain Shall Meet?

2013 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 169-196
Author(s):  
Urfan Khaliq
Keyword(s):  
Social Rights ◽  
Effective Protection ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThis article examines the relationship between the EU and the Council of Europe’s Social Charter. It considers the differing approaches to the protection of economic and social rights and the relationship between the two legal orders. It further examines whether the EU should consider acceding to the European Social Charter so as to ensure the effective protection of economic and social rights.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR ASSESSING THE DYNAMICS AND THE COHESION PROCESS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EUROPEAN PILLAR OF SOCIAL RIGHTS

2020 ◽  
pp. 677-693
Author(s):  
Margarita SHOPOVA ◽  
Tihomir VARBANOV ◽  
Evgeni OVCHINNIKOV
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Convergence Analysis ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Information Provision ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Preliminary Assessment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Statistical Survey ◽  
The Eu

The article clarifies the essence of the indicators that characterise the principles on which the European Pillar of Social Rights is built, and the information provision of their statistical survey is presented. Official statistics published by Eurostat are used. The objective internal regularities of the time series for Bulgaria for the period 2005-2018 are established by using the autodetermination coefficient, while the viability of constructing univariate models for forecasting purposes is assessed. A cluster analysis has been applied for 2010 and 2018, as a result of which homogenous groups of EU countries have been established and the factors most significant for their formation have been identified. The survey is a preliminary assessment of both the dynamics of the indicators for Bulgaria and the social cohesion in the EU. The derived results can serve as information and analytical bases both for identifying appropriate methods for convergence analysis and for revealing the possibilities of cluster analysis for its evaluation.

scholarly journals On the Social Construction of Legal Grievances: Evidence From Colombia and South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (8) ◽  
pp. 1326-1356
Author(s):  
Whitney K. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Legal Mobilization ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Judicial Decision ◽  
Judicial Decision Making ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

Leveraging comparisons within and across cases, this article investigates legal mobilization for social rights in Colombia and South Africa. This kind of rights contestation represents a new phenomenon, in which both ordinary citizens and judicial actors have come to view problems related to access to health care, housing, education, and social security through the lens of the law. Research on legal mobilization has tended toward one-sided examinations of this complex phenomenon, focusing primarily on either legal claims-making or judicial decision-making, and neglecting to fully theorize the relationship between the two. Drawing on an analysis of rights claims and 178 interviews, this article aims to correct these imbalances. In doing so, it offers a generalizable model that accounts for the social construction of legal grievances and the development of judicial receptivity to particular kinds of claims, and explains both the emergence and continuation of legal mobilization for social rights.

Social mainstreaming through the European pillar of social rights: Shielding ‘the social’ from ‘the economic’ in EU policymaking

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 341-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ane Aranguiz
Keyword(s):  
Social Issues ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
Social Market Economy ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
Article 9 ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Market ◽  
The Eu

Implementing fiscal consolidation measures without first considering social stabilisers has led to turn what originally was an economic recession into a social crisis too. The economic and social divergences in Europe have increased to a point where the future of the social dimension of the EU has been put into question. There is however, a provision in the Treaties that obliges the EU to take into account social issues in all its policies and activities, namely, the so-called horizontal social clause enshrined in Article 9 TFEU. The potential of this clause to mainstream the social dimension of the EU and foster balance between social and economic policies has, however, not yet been untapped. The recently launched European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR), which aims at achieving a highly competitive social market economy, brings to the table a number of rights-based objectives along with a number of indicators that might shed some light over the constraints faced by the horizontal social clause. This article aims at unravelling the potential of the horizontal social clause in envisioning parity between the social and the economic and providing a social pillar to the EU. This contribution provides first a legal analysis of Article 9 TFEU and it briefly discusses the problematic behind its poor implementation. Later, the potential of the horizontal social clause is discussed in the light of the current developments in the framework of economic governance. This article also suggests a number of scenarios where social mainstreaming should be duly implemented. It suggests that Article 9 TFEU may have an important role, in particular, with regard to austerity measures when envisioning it together with the EPSR.

The Words of Ina Beasley: Glimpses from a Life in British Sudan

Hawwa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-347
Author(s):  
Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social History ◽  
Female Circumcision ◽  
Multiple Roles ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis essay presents a woman whose ideas not only signifies a challenge to conventional approaches to the relationship between colonialism and feminism, but also enables us to appreciate the intricacies and diversities of colonial experiences and the multiple roles played by individuals who wielded some level of authority in a colonised society. Since this essay is a tribute to Ina Beasley, it reproduces substantial excerpts from her papers on the subjects that engaged her most deeply during her Sudan service. Her writings shed new light on the social history of human rights during the Condominium, which matters both to scholars and to concerned citizens. In recognition of Ina Beasley, who devoted her life to improving the lives of women and children in a society rife with hardship and discriminatory practices, the essay addresses her work on education and its relevance to eradicating female circumcision that was universally practiced at the time. The essay begins with a brief discussion of Sudanese politics at the time of her arrival and then examines her work as educator who managed to craft several influential programs to empower women and girls. The rest of the paper focuses on her reproductive health advocacy as exemplified in a formidable body of work that articulated her activities and approaches to social rights.

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