Documents Bailey, David 8 results

"European economies are in flux, destabilised by the low carbon transition (LCT) and post-Ukraine energy shock. How are states responding to this instability? This article contributes to emerging environmentally focused Comparative Capitalisms (CC) scholarship by developing a novel framework for analysing how state action is shaped by the demand-competitiveness-energy nexus. We comparatively examine the cases of France and Germany since 2022, drawing upon 19 elite interviews and documentary analysis of stakeholder accounts, to advance three arguments. First, it is essential for CC frameworks to integrate energy supply dynamics to understand state action and processes of capitalist development. Second, the asymmetric impact of the LCT on France and Germany has shaped distinct state-led capitalist restructuring designed to protect and extend national competitive advantages. For Germany this has primarily involved ‘greening' its existing export-led model of growth, whereas French state actors are attempting to advance its interests via the ‘strategic autonomy' (SA) agenda at the domestic and regional levels. Finally, the energy shock has initiated more interventionist state action in Germany that exposes critical instabilities in its export-led growth model. This analysis has significant implications for CC scholarship and its understanding of capitalist development by illustrating the significance of energy supply dynamics and advancing understanding of how disequilibrium can be theorised within the literature."

"This article examines union revitalization in Central and Eastern Europe, focusing on two countries: Hungary and Latvia. Trade unions have not only had to cope with a declining membership base, but have also had to respond to austerity programmes and government cuts in public sector employment. We argue that the inability of unions to provide a strong voice for alternative policies to the current neoliberal orthodoxy has been driven by a declining membership base, but also by weakened social dialogue mechanisms, limited industrial representation and an ageing membership profile, exacerbated by net outward migration in recent years. However, we find that unions in Latvia and Hungary have responded differently to these issues."

"This article explores the different forms of disruptive subjectivity that have developed in the context of the post-2008 global and European crises. The article traces developments both before and after 2008, with a specific focus on events in Spain and the UK. These country contexts are chosen due to their considerable differences in terms of the impact that the crisis had; yet we witness notable similarities with regard to the instances of refusal and resistance observed, especially in terms of the motives held and forms adopted, albeit with differences in scale. The paper presents the results of qualitative research, including 65 in-depth interviews, to highlight the way in which disaffection, the search for voice, and the threat of withdrawal from relations of exploitation have each become problematic as means of dissent following 2008. As a result, we have seen a merging of these more conventional forms of dissent with a number of more radical prefigurative practices that had been developing prior to 2008. As a result, the stagnation of neoliberal capitalism from 2008 onwards has witnessed the development of a new form of pragmatically prefigurative disruptive subjectivity, responsible for some of the more important and interesting political developments in contemporary advanced industrial democracies. "

"This article contributes to the debate within the comparative political economy literature regarding the viability of market-correcting policy preferences under global socio-economic constraints. The existing literature has thus far focused predominantly on moderate, institutional, elite-oriented forms of contention over welfare policy reform. The article presents evidence that disruptive, innovative or elite-challenging forms of contention play an important role in welfare reform and should therefore be the subject of more sustained research. Pooled time-series cross-sectional analysis provides support for the claim that this more disruptive type of contention has a more significant and consistent impact on the process of welfare reform than do the institutional and moderate forms of contention that are more frequently studied (especially under adverse economic conditions and heightened levels of global socio-economic pressure). This is because (a) participants in acts of institutional, elite-oriented forms of contention more readily accede to elite discourse when it is asserted that welfare retrenchment measures are ‘necessary'; and (b) moderate, elite-oriented activities are more easily ignored by policy makers."

"In one of the most rapid adoptions of an educational innovation in history, the rise of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) has become a significant opportunity for millions of students from all over the world to receive quality education over the internet at no cost. At the same time it has become a source of great optimism as well as foreboding for educational professionals. The game changing potential of this innovation could change the form and system of higher education. The frustration of students who are racking up unprecedented amounts of debt for their educations is nearing a tipping point. If students can earn college credits and even degrees at no cost, the number of tuition paying students at traditional educational institutions could fall dramatically. With ever increasing levels of quality and access, MOOCs are causing us to rethink the educational system, the role of the educator and student, and the role of education in society. What the post-MOOC educational landscape will look like depends upon the choices we make today, choices which must be made through careful consideration. Massively Open is an overview of the implications of this potentially disruptive innovation."

"In a context of globalisation and structural change, manufacturing workers in developed countries have been vulnerable to plant closure. This article presents the findings of a longitudinal survey examining the labour market status of ex-auto workers, formerly employed by MG Rover, four years after plant closure. In particular, issues of employment precariousness in terms of employment destinations are considered. The findings suggest that a majority of workers had found employment by April 2008. However, the subsequent experience of economic downturn had left most facing a fragile future on the labour market, suggesting a need for policy measures that go beyond reliance on a flexible labour market to address the inequities faced by workers in such situations."

"This article argues that existing accounts of the underdevelopment of `Social Europe' have failed to adequately integrate the contending obstacles that explain the absence they rightly identify. It argues that by employing a critical realist methodology, including the concepts of generation, emergence, and stratification, it is possible to more adequately integrate knowledge of the obstacles to `Social Europe'. Concretely, the article argues that obstacles to `Social Europe' exist at three strata, constituted by institutional relations, political relations, and Europe-wide social relations, respectively. The underdevelopment of `Social Europe' emerged from the institutional stratum, which in turn was generated (but not determined) by the underlying political relations, which were themselves in turn generated by EU-wide social relations. From this perspective, the oft-lamented absence of `Social Europe' is an emergent property of underlying institutional, political and EU-wide social relations; its occurrence, therefore, is far less contingent than existing, less integrated, accounts suggest."

"Much of the critical discussion of the European political economy and the Eurozone crisis has focused upon a sense that solidaristic achievements built up during the post-war period are being continuously unravelled. Whilst there are many reasons to lament the trajectory of change within Europe's political economy, there are also important developments, trends and processes which have acted to obstruct, hinder and present alternatives to this perceived trajectory of declining social solidarity. These alternatives have tended to be obscured from view, in part as a result of the conceptual approaches adopted within the literature. Drawing from examples across the EU, this book presents an alternative narrative and explanation for the development of Europe's political economy and crisis, emphasising the agency of what are typically considered subordinate (and passive) actors. By highlighting patterns of resistance, disobedience and disruption it makes a significant contribution to a literature that has otherwise been more concerned to understand patterns of heightened domination, exploitation, inequality and neoliberal consolidation. It will be of interest to students and scholars alike."