From libertarian communism to corporate socialism 22:58 Dec 20 10 comments Las promesas rotas de Vietnam 18:08 Jun 17 0 comments Vietnam : les promesses brisées du Vietnam 19:33 Jun 11 0 comments The State and the power of Business 02:15 Mar 08 0 comments Elementos sobre el salario mínimo para 2021 02:22 Jan 26 0 comments more >> |
Recent articles by Andreas Bieler
This author has not submitted any other articles.
Recent Articles about International EconomyThe State and the power of Business Mar 08 21 Shock en el Mercado Petrolero. Caos en el Laberinto Apr 30 20 Here Comes Bourgeois Socialism – Again Apr 28 20 Forget the Welfare State?
international |
economy |
non-anarchist press
Wednesday October 02, 2013 23:11 by Andreas Bieler - The Bullet
The welfare state has been under pressure since the mid-1980s and the onset of neoliberal economic policies across Europe. Capital has used the current crisis to intensify this pressure further. In Southern Europe, this is often directly enforced through the Troika (European Union, European Central Bank, and International Monetary Fund) in exchange for bailout packages, but in other countries such as the UK too, drastic cuts are justified by reference to increasing national debt and the global financial crisis. Trade unions and civil society organizations have struggled hard to defend the welfare state, but it has been a defensive struggle all the way and many aspects have already been lost. Trade union rights have been curbed in many countries, key industries such as telecommunications and postal services privatized and core services such as health and education increasingly marketized. Full employment policies have been a thing of the past for quite some time. In this blog post, I will reflect on the nature and contents of the welfare state and the possibilities of defending its achievements. The welfare state is generally considered a major success of labour movements in industrialized countries. And indeed, as Asbjørn Wahl outlines in his book The Rise and Fall of the Welfare State [ http://andreasbieler.blogspot.no/2012/01/rise-and-fall-....html ], it was the strength of labour movements, built up in industrial struggles at the beginning of the 20th century, which forced concessions from capital against the background of regime competition during the Cold War. In exchange for continuing control over the means of production, capital accepted an expanded welfare state, policies of full employment and a strong role of trade unions in economic and social policy-making. |
Front pageUpdate on the Campaign for the Sudanese Anarchists Malatesta’s Revolutionary Anarchism in British Exile Encuentros Ácratas: Miradas anarquistas sobre el libertarianismo de derecha. An Anarchist View of Trotsky’s "Transitional Program" A volunteer from Kharkov was tortured by the military after trying to leave Ukraine FORO CONVERSATORIO: A 50 AÑOS DEL GOLPE CÍVICO MILITAR Los desafíos y tareas del anarquismo Anarchists in Rojava: Revolution is a struggle in itself An Attempted Marxist-Anarchist Dialogue Taller de Estudios Anarquistas: La experiencia de los paros nacionales en Colombia Comunicado Público a 50 años del Golpe Cívico-Militar A Talk on the Ukrainian-Russian War Sürgündeki Sudanlı anarşistleri destekleyin Υποστηρίξτε τους Σουδανούς αναρχικούς |