Albena Azmanova, author at Social Europe

About Albena Azmanova

Albena Azmanova is associate professor in political and social thought at the University of Kent’s Brussels School of International Studies. Her most recent book is Capitalism on Edge: How Fighting Precarity can Achieve Radical Change without Crisis or Utopia (Columbia University Press, 2020).

The nascent paradigm shift in the EU

by Albena Azmanova on 28th April 2020

Emergency action to enhance healthcare and unemployment insurance might signal a paradigm shift for the union from market integration to providing public goods.

Whose is the European Green Deal?

by Albena Azmanova on 11th March 2020

The challenges of social and environmental injustice are as intense as ever. But which social forces can act as the agents of change?

The big Green New Deal and its little red social question

by Albena Azmanova on 30th October 2019

Why does environmental promise always fall short in practice? A new answer to the social question can bridge the gap.

Syriza And The 21st Century Left

by Albena Azmanova on 4th May 2018

Costas Douzinas’ Syriza in Power (Polity, 2017) carries a wondrous resemblance to Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince (1513). The latter is penned by a state official turned humanist philosopher; the former by a humanist philosopher turned an accidental state official. Both works scrutinise without moralization the world of politics at a critical historical juncture – the experimentation with republican rule […]

Abuse Of The Rule Of Law In The EU

by Albena Azmanova on 24th October 2017

Spanish Premier Mariano Rajoy is about to suspend Catalonia’s autonomy, and EU leaders have ruled out involvement in the crisis, with the justification that the Spanish government is acting to “restore the constitutional order”. There seems to be a consensus among the European leadership that Madrid’s handling of the 1 October Catalan referendum is completely […]

Living and working in Europe 2019

Living and working in Europe, Eurofound’s 2019 yearbook, provides a snapshot of the latest developments in the work and lives of Europeans as explored in the agency’s research activities over the course of 2019. The range of topics as a result is broad, from the growing diversity of employment across EU regions to rising trust in national institutions to developments in minimum wages. This overview also describes how Eurofound's activities connect with the policy priorities of the European Commission.

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Proposals for a reform of the EU's fiscal rules and economic governance

Debt-to-GDP ratios are set to rise significantly all over the world as a result of the coronavirus crisis. This will pose a huge challenge for the EU's member states and in particular the euro area countries, because of the strict fiscal rules. The IMK advocates a reform focused on appropriate fiscal rules that promote short-term macroeconomic stabilisation and long-term modernisation of the public capital stock, while still keeping the sustainability of public debt in mind. We propose an expenditure rule for non-cyclical, non-investment expenditure coupled with a Golden Rule for public investment. As a pragmatic solution, the permissible debt-to-GDP ratio should be increased to 90%, while escape clauses should apply during times of crisis. The Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure should also be reformed. We advocate a Macroeconomic Dialogue to ensure compliance with the reformed rules and consistency of national strategies.

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Counting gigs: how can we measure the scale of online platform work?

The potential transformation of labour markets by the emergence of online labour platforms has triggered intense debate but its scale remains speculative. Adequate policy responses hinge on a good understanding of dynamics that will only grow in importance with the labour market crisis created by the pandemic. With technologically enabled remote work, growing demand for services such as food delivery or care, as well as rising unemployment and the financial strain on many workers, platform work may resume its rapid growth. This working paper provides a critical assessment of different approaches to estimating the scale, illustrated with key research.

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The Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and its partners have been working for months with high-level experts from all continents to develop a proposal for a new, fair and inclusive multilateralism. The results will be presented at the 'UNited for a New Multilateralism' conference, on Friday September 18th.

You will have the chance to hear valuable insights from influential political and academic figures such as the High Representative of the European Union Josep Borrell, Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General Fabrizio Hochschild-Drummond, German Foreign Affairs Minister Heiko Maas, Former Prime Minister of the Central African Republic Martin Ziguélé, Malaysian Former Minister of Finance Lim Guan Eng, Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden and many more.

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The European Union is excellently equipped to pursue the most urgent issues facing the advanced world: combating environmental damage and climate change, coping with the massive aftermath of the coronavirus crisis, reforming globalisation, regulating financialised capitalism, reducing material inequalities and reconciling the future of work in a rapidly changing economy with workers’ needs for secure lives. But, argues Colin Crouch in this manifesto for a return to the ‘social Europe’ agenda, to achieve these goals the EU needs to face the two menaces stalking today’s politics: neoliberalism and xenophobic nationalism. To do so it must confront the weakness of social democracy, historically the main political protagonist of the causes of co-operation and inclusion on which the strategy depends.

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