scholarly journals (Non)Environmental Alternative Action Organizations under the Impacts of the Global Financial Crisis: A Comparative European Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 8989
Author(s):  
Maria Kousis ◽  
Katrin Uba

Hard economic times have been considered obstacles for environmental activism by many environmental scholars, yet works, mostly based on case studies, on alternative action organizations (AAOs) during times of increasing livelihood vulnerability show considerable environmental activism. We explain this inconsistency by arguing that AAOs mobilizing at times of crisis opt for direct action, using strategies of citizens’ solidarity initiatives centering on meeting basic needs and sustainability goals and thereby carry on the environmental claim-making in a new way. To this end, we compare environmental AAOs (EAAOs) with non-environmental ones using a cross-national dataset of 4157 hubs-retrieved AAOs active during the economic crisis (2007–2016), in France, Greece, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. Given that EAAOs constitute more than one-third of all AAOs, it is clear that environmental protection or sustainable development are not neglected even at times of economic hardships. Instead, the crisis provides an opportunity to broaden the scope of action for existing organizations that can adopt sustainability activities focusing on alternative practices and lifestyles, improving societal resilience. We further show that EAAOs tend to be informal and, to an extent, more concentrated on contention and protests than non-environmental organizations.

Author(s):  
Trish Walsh ◽  
George Wilson ◽  
Erna O’Connor

Social work has been viewed as one of the most nation-specific of the professions, ‘being closely tied up with national traditions, mentalities and institutions’ (Kornbeck, 2004, p 146). In addition, the political imperatives of national governments, austerity measures and managerialism drive approaches to service delivery which may supersede social work’s professional priorities. This militates against an automatic or easy transfer of professional knowledge from one country to another. In spite of this, there has been an enduring interest in developing international forms of social work that transcend national borders (Gray and Fook, 2004; Lyons et al, 2012). In this chapter, we present a case study of social worker mobility as it has evolved from the establishment of the first national social work registration body in the Republic of Ireland in 1997 with a particular focus on data from 2004-13 capturing the years leading up to, and in the aftermath of, the global financial crisis of 2008. We contrast this with the situation in Northern Ireland (NI), part of the UK and a separate and distinct political and legal entity with its own policies and practices. We draw on statistical and descriptive data provided by Irish social work registration bodies (NSWQB 1997-2011; CORU established in 2011 and NISCC, the Northern Ireland Social Care Council established in 2001) to illustrate (i) how sensitive contemporary mobility patterns are to changing economic and political factors; (ii) how rapidly patterns of mobility change and (iii) how much more mired in complexity European social work mobility is likely to be if the European project itself fractures, as is possible following the Brexit referendum vote in the UK.


Author(s):  
Edward Fieldhouse ◽  
Jane Green ◽  
Geoffrey Evans ◽  
Jonathan Mellon ◽  
Christopher Prosser ◽  
...  

This book offers a novel perspective on British elections, focusing on the importance of increasing electoral volatility in British elections, and the role of electoral shocks in the context of increasing volatility. It demonstrates how shocks have contributed to the level of electoral volatility, and also which parties have benefited from the ensuing volatility. It follows in the tradition of British Election Study books, providing a comprehensive account of specific election outcomes—the General Elections of 2015 and 2017—and a more general approach to understanding electoral change.We examine five electoral shocks that affected the elections of 2015 and 2017: the rise in EU immigration after 2004, particularly from Eastern Europe; the Global Financial Crisis prior to 2010; the coalition government of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats between 2010 and 2015; the Scottish Independence Referendum in 2014; and the European Union Referendum in 2016.Our focus on electoral shocks offers an overarching explanation for the volatility in British elections, alongside the long-term trends that have led us to this point. It offers a way to understand the rise and fall of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), Labour’s disappointing 2015 performance and its later unexpected gains, the collapse in support for the Liberal Democrats, the dramatic gains of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 2015, and the continuing period of tumultuous politics that has followed the EU Referendum and the General Election of 2017. It provides a new way of understanding electoral choice in Britain, and beyond, and a better understanding of the outcomes of recent elections.


2021 ◽  
Vol 93 ◽  
pp. 05017
Author(s):  
Olga Sokolova ◽  
Nadezhda Goncharova ◽  
Pavel Letov

The gist of this article boils down to the development of British banking system in the conditions of new industrialization and digitalization. The banking system of Great Britain is characterized by a high degree of concentration and specialization of banking, a well-developed banking infrastructure, and a close connection with the international loan capital market. London is the world's oldest financial center. The English banking system has the world's widest network of overseas branches. The UK banking system is relatively independent from the credit systems of the European Union. Nevertheless, banking legislation is focused on the unification of banking law within the European Community and supervision of banking activities. In the context of the global financial crisis, the UK banking system, as in other countries, has been severely tested. The most important trend in the development of the UK banking system is the blurring of boundaries between certain types of credit institutions. The subject of the research is the UK banking system in the context of new industrialization and digitalization.


Author(s):  
Geoffrey Meen ◽  
Christine Whitehead

The opening chapter provides an overview of the topics covered in the book, set in the context of the key policy debates that have taken place in recent years, not just in the UK but across countries facing similar issues. The chapter introduces the analytical approaches to be used. The methods are primarily those of economists – including modern as well as traditional techniques - but recognise the insights of other disciplines and the political constraints under which housing operates. The chapter stresses that housing cannot be divorced from the macroeconomy and monetary and fiscal policies are often more important to housing outcomes than policies directly aimed at housing. But housing also influences the economy which, particularly since the Global Financial Crisis, has added further constraints on housing policy.


Author(s):  
Spangler Timothy

This chapter focuses on the increase in the amount of litigation and enforcement actions against private investment funds in the United States, the UK, and across the globe as a result of the global financial crisis. As more disputes arose during the course of the global financial crisis, the legal and regulatory regime impacting private investment funds has been the subject of closer scrutiny than has been seen in previous decades. The chapter first considers the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) enforcement actions against hedge funds as well as U.S. civil litigation prior to the financial crisis before discussing Dodd-Frank and its effect on enforcement. It then examines the SEC’s enforcement actions regarding broker-dealer registration, along with some of its key enforcement actions after Dodd-Frank. It also analyses the Financial Conduct Authority’s enforcement priorities after the global financial crisis and key litigation in the UK involving private investment funds.


2020 ◽  
Vol 253 ◽  
pp. R18-R28
Author(s):  
Marianne Sensier ◽  
Fiona Devine

We investigate economic resilience of UK regions before, during and after the 2007/8 global financial crisis. We date business cycle turning points in real output, employment and productivity to assess the resilience dimensions of resistance, recovery and renewal and rank the economic resilience of regions in a resilience scorecard. Our empirical results reveal that the business cycle in productivity has not returned to its pre-recession peak level for Yorkshire and the Humber and the employment level has not recovered in Scotland. The resilience scorecard ranks the South East as the most resilient region with Northern Ireland the least resilient.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-38

Purpose – This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach – This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings – Participants reported diminishing personal control over changes within the workplace and a cultural shift toward a harsher working climate in the UK following the global financial crisis. Human resource development was considered as silenced or absent and associated solely with low cost-based e-learning rather than acting in a strategic role to support sustainable business objectives. Practical implications – The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations. Originality/value – The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Mogaji

<p><b>Structured Abstract: </b></p> <p><b>Purpose: </b>To examine trends in the use of advertising appeals by banks in the UK advertising mortgages, based on a content analysis of the newspaper advertisements of banks, using a coding system to enable an observation of the content of communication and its categorisation, in order to observe trends and frequencies, make comparisons and deduce meanings.</p> <p> </p> <p><b> Design/methodology/approach: </b>Mortgage advertisements in 9 National newspapers over twelve consecutive months were content analysed. The advertising appeals, advertisement size, colour and targeted consumers were observed and analysed by two independent coders. Intercoder reliability was assessed using Cohen’s Kappa. </p> <p> </p> <p><b>Findings: </b>Rates of borrowing and for comparisons were generally presented in UK Mortgage advertisements, first-time buyers were however targeted differently with emotionally appealing advertisements in colourful large advert sizes while advertisements targeted towards existing home owners were printed in single colours and in smaller advert sizes.</p> <p> </p> <p><b>Social implications: </b>As the demand for new homes continues to grow in UK, decisions regarding mortgage advertising strategies are critical. It is expected that advertisers will provide first-time buyers, in particular, with relevant information which are truthful, clear, fair and not misleading. It is important that consumers are aware of these rates and charges and do not find themselves caught up in the euphoria of easy and cheap loans from the lenders, which they might not be able to repay.</p> <p> </p> <b>Originality/value: </b>Perhaps the first attempt at analysing mortgages advertisements in newspapers in the UK, post the global financial crisis. Most previous studies have confined themselves to magazine advertisements.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 46-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Hassanein ◽  
Mohsen Younis

The global financial crisis has created pessimism in terms of prospects of sales rebounding in the future. Therefore, this study aims to examine the stickiness behaviors of firm costs pre, during and post the period of the financial crisis. It uses a sample from the UK chemical industry over the period from 2001 to 2015. The ABJ sticky cost model is applied with the following cost categories: total costs, cost of goods sold, operating costs, selling, general and administrative costs, salaries and benefits, and finance costs. The ABJ sticky cost models are run separately for each cost category over pre (2001-2007), during (2007-2009) and post (2010-2015) the financial crisis. The study finds that total costs have behaved as sticky pre the financial crisis and anti-sticky during and post the financial crisis. Furthermore, cost of goods sold has changed from sticky (pre and during the financial crisis) to anti-sticky (post the financial crisis). Furthermore, salaries and benefits costs have changed from sticky (pre the financial crisis) to anti-sticky (during the financial crisis) and financing costs from sticky (pre the financial crisis) to anti-sticky (after the financial crisis). However, there is no variation in the behavior of selling, general and administrative costs pre and post the financial crisis


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