The Political Economy of Devolution

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Keating
Keyword(s):  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Institutional Capacity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Investment Capital

Small, devolved nations and regions lack major macro-economic powers. Yet in the context of spatial rescaling they have become important levels for managing economic growth and social cohesion. They may be exposed to a ‘race to the bottom’ by the need to attract investment capital. Yet, by adopting social investment strategies they can rec.oncling growth with social inclusion. The key factor is the institutional capacity to plan for the long term, to set priorities and to sustain cooperation among the social partners.

scholarly journals Do stakeholders in Denmark know about social investment within long-term care?

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-139
Author(s):  
Bent Greve
Keyword(s):  
Policy Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Public Expenditures ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Academic Level ◽  
The Social ◽  
Central Tenet ◽  
New Ideas

AbstractSocial investment has become a buzzword in recent years. The concept is not always precise or being used in the same way in all European countries. The central tenet of the social investment approach is to treat public expenditures not just as an economic burden, but also as an investment in the future. This is also a part of the development in the discourse. The social investment perspective is an example of how new ideas might influence social policy development. However, the use of the concept at the political level does not imply that it is also known by stakeholders. The article explains the dichotomy between the use of a concept on an overarching political and academic level with a practical understanding among actors without using the concept. The article concludes that social investment can be used in the field and that actors have an understanding hereof.

Economic Development in 2006 and the Future of the Russian Economy: The Non-Resource-Based Sector Potential (The Economic Report of All-Russia Business Union “Delovaya Rossiya”)

2007 ◽  
pp. 27-45
Author(s):  
B. Titov ◽  
I. Pilipenko ◽  
A. Danilov-Danilyan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Economic Report ◽  
Russian Economy ◽  
The Social ◽  
National Economic ◽  
Investment Capital ◽  
Export Industries ◽  
Sustainable Economic Growth

The report considers how the state economic policy contributes to the national economic development in the midterm perspective. It analyzes main current economic problems of the Russian economy, i.e. low effectiveness of the social system, high dependence on export industries and natural resources, high monopolization and underdeveloped free market, as well as barriers that hinder non-recourse-based business development including high tax burden, skilled labor deficit and lack of investment capital. We propose a social-oriented market economy as the Russian economic model to achieve a sustainable economic growth in the long-term perspective. This model is based on people’s prosperity and therefore expanding domestic demand that stimulates the growth of domestic non-resource-based sector which in turn can accelerate annual GDP growth rates to 10-12%. To realize this model "Delovaya Rossiya" proposes a program that consists of a number of directions and key groups of measures covering priority national projects, tax, fiscal, monetary, innovative-industrial, trade and social policies.

East Germany

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Detlef Pollack ◽  
Gergely Rosta
Keyword(s):  
Structural Transformation ◽  
East Germany ◽  
External Factors ◽  
The Political ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
State Security ◽  
Security Service ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Church

The case of East Germany raises the question of why religion and church, which had fallen to an unprecedentedly low level after four decades of suppression, have not recovered since 1989. The repressive church politics of the SED were undoubtedly the decisive factor in the unique process of minoritizing churches in the GDR. However, other external factors such as increasing prosperity, socio-structural transformation, and the expansion of the leisure and entertainment sector played an important role, too. In addition, church activity itself probably also helped to weaken the social position of churches. The absence of a church renaissance after 1990 can be explained by several factors, such as the long-term effects of the break with tradition caused by the GDR system, the political and moral discrediting of the church by the state security service, and people’s dwindling confidence in the church, which was suddenly seen as a non-representative Western institution.

scholarly journals The Social Investment Capital and the Cargo Volume Transported by Sea: A VAR Approach for Vietnam

Logistics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguyen Thi Thuy Hong ◽  
Hoang Thi Lich ◽  
Bui Thanh Nga
Keyword(s):  
Social Investment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Investment Capital

Disappointing poverty trends: is the social investment state to blame?

2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 450-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Vandenbroucke ◽  
Koen Vleminckx
Keyword(s):  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Resource Competition ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Working Age ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Post Industrial ◽  
Industrial Societies ◽  
The Eu

Should we explain the disappointing outcomes of the Open Method of Co-ordination on Inclusion by methodological weaknesses or by substantive contradictions in the ‘social investment’ paradigm? To clarify the underlying concepts, we first revisit the original ‘Lisbon inspiration’ and then relate it to the idea of the ‘new welfare state’, as proposed in the literature on new risks in post-industrial societies. We then discuss two explanations for disappointing poverty trends, suggested by critical accounts of the ‘social investment state’: ‘resource competition’ and a ‘re-commodification’. We do not find these explanations convincing per se and conclude that the jury is still out on the ‘social investment state’. However, policy-makers cannot ignore the failure of employment policies to reduce the proportion of children and working-age adults living in jobless households in the EU, and they should not deny the reality of a ‘trilemma of activation’. Finally, we identify policy conditions that may facilitate the complementarity of social investment and social inclusion.

Hospitable universities and integration of refugees: First responses from Austria and Poland

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Kontowski ◽  
Madelaine Leitsberger
Keyword(s):  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Human Right ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
European Universities ◽  
Public Role ◽  
The Social ◽  
Academic Year

European universities responded in different ways to the ‘refugee crisis’ of 2015. Some subscribed to the agenda of higher education (HE) as a universal human right, while others stressed different long-term benefits of offering access to it. Yet, the unprecedented sense of moral urgency that guided immediate declarations of support and subsequent actions has largely remained unaddressed. With the crisis becoming a new reality for many countries, HE has a role to play in the social inclusion of refugees, even in countries that were not attractive destinations for refugees in the past. In this article, we provide an overview of the reasons why HE institutions supported refugees, and present the results of an empirical study of Poland and Austria during the 2015–2016 academic year. We then evaluate those first responses utilizing parts of Ager and Strang’s framework of integration, and discuss issues of institutional readiness, capabilities and the public role of HE stemming from this comparison. Our findings suggest that reasons such as acknowledgement of basic rights, or utilizing social capital are insufficient to explain and understand strong integrative support measures. We propose that refugee support by HE institutions is both better understood and promoted through the language of hospitality.

scholarly journals Three Shortcomings of the Social Investment Perspective

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bea Cantillon ◽  
Wim Van Lancker
Keyword(s):  
Capital Investment ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
The Social

In this article we critically assess the social investment perspective that has become the dominant paradigm in European social policymaking. We identify and discuss some of its shortcomings that may hamper social progress for all. In doing so, we focus on three pillars central to the idea of social investment: social inclusion through work, individual responsibility and human capital investment. We find that the social investment perspective has some serious flaws when it comes to the social protection of vulnerable groups. This is strongly related to the continuing relevance of social class in explaining and remedying social inequalities. We conclude that investment cannot be the only rationale for welfare state intervention and that protecting people should remain equally high on the policy agenda.

scholarly journals Structural determinants of GBV against refugee youth: Advancing critical theoretical perspectives

INYI Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 15-19
Author(s):  
Negar Alamdar
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Structural Determinants ◽  
Refugee Youth ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
Systems Of Domination

The scholarship on gender-based violence (GBV) against refugee youth has succeeded in highlighting the significance of micro social psychological or situational analyses. Missing, however, are analyses that incorporate structural approaches, especially as informed by critical feminist and critical race theories. This review not only suggests ways in which structural analyses may proceed by further recommending the conceptual utility of integration and dislocation as key concepts in refugee studies, GBV and analyses of youth. These concepts mediate the relationships between two fundamental and prevailing units in the social theorizing – micro and macro-analyses. By incorporating more holistic, relational and critical foci regarding systems of domination (misogyny, racism, youth discrimination, homophobia) within the political economy and culture and their embedded institutions, more systemic and long term remedies are recommended.

scholarly journals A Migration Project in Retrospect: The Case of the Ageing Zero Generation in Emirdağ

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 260-269
Author(s):  
Christiane Timmerman ◽  
Meia Walravens ◽  
Joris Michielsen ◽  
Nevriye Acar ◽  
Lore Van Praag
Keyword(s):  
Elderly People ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Family Culture ◽  
The Social ◽  
Zero Generation ◽  
Family Elders ◽  
Depth Interviews

In the twentieth century, Emirdağ (Turkey) witnessed extensive emigration and is now home to the ‘zero generation’: a group of elderly people who stayed behind when their children moved abroad. We investigate how these elderly people, with at least one child who left the country, evaluate their situation as they have grown older. Using fieldwork observations and in-depth interviews, we found that this group mainly associated the migration of their offspring with loneliness and exclusion from society, due to separation from their children and changes in the traditional family culture. The respondents clearly note a shift in the social position of family elders in Turkish culture, from highly respected to being ignored and looked down upon. While this change in status might be experienced by all elderly inhabitants of the region, feelings of distress were reinforced by an emerging discourse which suggests the migration project is a failed enterprise. The constraints their children experience in the immigrant country have led the zero generation to rely less on them and become more dependent on their own resources. Future research on ageing, migration and transnational care should focus on the different ways in which migration systems evolve, and the long-term effects on social inclusion of all generations.

scholarly journals The Effect of Transport Accessibility on the Social Inclusion of Wheelchair Users: A Mixed Method Analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 24-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel Velho ◽  
Catherine Holloway ◽  
Andrew Symonds ◽  
Brian Balmer
Keyword(s):  
Public Transport ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Shoulder Injury ◽  
Main Claim ◽  
Wheelchair Users ◽  
The Social ◽  
Physical Barriers

In recent years the accessibility of London buses has improved with the introduction of ramps and wheelchair priority areas. These advances are meant to remove physical barriers to entering the bus, but new conflicts have arisen particularly over the physical space aboard. We aimed to research the barriers faced by wheelchair users in public transport using a mixed methods approach to establish the breadth of issues faced by wheelchair users. To this end we quantified the push-force used alight a bus and a study to understand the coping mechanisms used by people to propel up a ramp. This quantitative approach found push forces which resulted in a load of 2 to 3 times body weight being transferred through people’s shoulders, forces which can be directly linked to shoulder injury. This could disable the user further, preventing them from being able to push their wheelchair. Alongside the quantitative study, we conducted qualitative research comprising of a number of in-depth interviews with wheelchair users about the barriers they face in public transport. Our main claim, highlighted through this interdisciplinary collaboration, is that proposed ‘solutions’ to accessibility, such as ramps, often generate problems of their own. These barriers can affect the life of wheelchair users, impacting on their confidence and causing social isolation. These can be long-term in nature or immediate.

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