Social Europe articles on politics

As the European Union begins to disintegrate, who can provide the leadership to save it? German Chancellor Angela Merkel is widely credited with finally answering Henry Kissinger’s famous question about the Western alliance: “What is the phone number for Europe?” But if Europe’s phone number has a German dialing code, it goes through to an […]

The European Union has a dangerous case of nostalgia. Not only is a yearning for the “good old days” – before the EU supposedly impinged on national sovereignty – fueling the rise of nationalist political parties; European leaders continue to try to apply yesterday’s solutions to today’s problems. Everyone was supposed to benefit from European […]

Never before have so many had to decide on something they knew or cared so little about. The “London bubble” is obsessing about the EU referendum on June 23. The parts of Twitter I see are hyperventilating with excitement over designation, debates, purdah, net costs and benefits, and the like. But the majority of the […]

The sovereign debt crisis continues to have profound consequences on industrial relations systems across the European Union. Most notably, collective bargaining has become much weaker and more fragmented in many countries as a result of both domestic and supranational responses to the crisis. But how exactly are policy and legislative changes influencing the extent and […]

From the very beginning of the debate over Britain’s place in Europe, it has been argued that membership of the EU and its predecessors would entail a loss of ‘sovereignty’ for the UK. It has also been claimed that the institutions of the EU are ‘undemocratic’ and ‘unaccountable’ compared to those of the British state. […]

Much international attention has focused upon the rhetoric of Viktor Orban in recent years, with both supporters and detractors transfixed by his approach to foreign affairs and his wholesale capture of the Hungarian state. However, it is Hungary’s systematic adoption of workfare which is the Orban regime’s most novel aspect. Labour Market Unemployment in Hungary […]

Have the negative economic consequences brought about by the financial crisis made European welfare states unaffordable? Iain Begg writes that while there is some validity to criticisms of welfare spending, the welfare state performs a number of core functions that ensure it will continue to be around for the foreseeable future. He also notes that European welfare […]

The European Union has never been very popular in Britain. It joined late, and its voters will be asked on June 23 whether they want to leave early. The referendum’s outcome will not be legally binding on the government; but it is inconceivable that Britain will stay if the public’s verdict is to quit. Over […]

Britain joined what became the European Union in 1973. This year, on June 23, it will hold a referendum on whether to leave. Should it? Current polls show a closely divided electorate. Prime Minister David Cameron claims that the concessions he has won from Britain’s EU partners should lay to rest popular concerns about a […]

Highly educated versus lowly educated. Muslims against non-Muslims. ’People’ versus ‘Elite’. Young against old. Mainstream against populist. All is pointing in the same direction: countries like the Netherlands enter the future in increasingly separate worlds. The divisive tensions seem to triumph over the binding, bridging forces. Take the Dutch referendum about the EU-Association Agreement with […]