Tag Archives for EUref
‘Brexit means Brexit’ must not mean ‘keep calm and carry on’
The UK needs a long-term project of nation-building, not continuation with the neoliberal policy settings of the last 40 years. The Brexit vote demonstrated what a strikingly divided country Britain is. Leave versus Remain voters tended to be divided along the lines of young versus old, educated versus less educated, and affluent versus poor. Voting patterns indicated divisions between the … Continue reading
China and the UK’s EU membership: questions beyond the referendum
Despite the increasingly important UK-China economic ties strong Chinese opposition to ‘Brexit’ has been ignored Whilst President Obama publicly weighed into the referendum debate in the UK, offering a strong defence of the UK staying in, we know little about what other states, including emerging powers like China and India, think. This is surprising – the ‘Leave’ campaign has made … Continue reading
Brexit, the PIIGS, and the eurozone crisis
Misleading narratives on the causes of the eurozone crisis have played into the hands of those campaigning for Brexit The eurozone crisis has played into the hands of those campaigning for Brexit. Whilst, fanciful headlines on ‘federal Europe plots’ and gushingly Eurocentric hot-takes have dominated the referendum campaign, those who have been paying attention to the fates of countries like … Continue reading
EU structural funds and the potential impact of Brexit on the North
With the EU providing important funding for the economic development of poorer regions, uncertainty looms for the North if Britain votes to leave Whilst the threat of ‘Brexit’ poses many uncertainties for the UK a whole, its impact would not be nationally uniform but would differ across regions. The ramifications would be not simply economic, but also relate to the … Continue reading
The Coming Crisis: The migrant crisis and the future of the European project
The economic, political and social consequences of failing to respond effectively to the migrant crisis risk accelerating European disintegration Digesting the relentless news stories about the devastating numbers of lives lost in the Mediterranean, the living conditions endured by the human beings seeking passage into and across Europe, and the increasingly incoherent political responses of European leaders, there can be … Continue reading
Authoritarian but Flexible: Turkey and recent labour market reforms
The AKP’s reforms to ‘flexibilise’ the labour market will weaken workers’ rights and further consolidate authoritarian neoliberalism in Turkey In the last few years, ‘authoritarianism’ has been used widely by mainstream academic circles, Western media and international civil society organisations to define the character of the political regime under the AKP (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi or the Justice and Development … Continue reading
UK regions, the European Union and manufacturing exports
New analysis of the trade in goods between the UK’s regions and the EU sheds new light on the potential regional implications of Brexit It is too simplistic to claim that the UK has a single relationship with the EU. Yet the regional dimension of UK/EU relations has received relatively little attention in the public debate around the implications of … Continue reading
Democracy and Eurozone structural adjustment programmes
The European Parliament’s new role in Eurozone structural adjustment programmes is institutionally ambiguous and offers only limited democratic improvement By now, there can be little doubt that reforms to the European Union during the Eurozone crisis have impacted negatively on its democratic performance. After all, this has been a recurring and haunting ‘curse’ of the Economic and Monetary Union’s political … Continue reading
Britain and the EU referendum: a story of losing control?
Controlling the case for Remain and unpacking the Leave arguments about regaining control are shaping up to be key deciding factors ahead of June 23rd It’s now two months since David Cameron reached agreement with EU partners in re-negotiating the terms of British membership. How is the referendum campaign shaping up? How far have the imponderables of two months ago … Continue reading
The European Union into the maelström
Grexit, Brexit and the migrant crisis are putting the future of the European Union under significant and sustained pressure Following the financial crisis of 2007-2008 the European Union (EU) is facing a situation that can easily be characterised as a maelström. The efforts and sacrifices incurred by European nation states in the last few decades in their attempt to converge … Continue reading
The time has come for a progressive TTIP
With mounting concern on both sides of the Atlantic that trade politics only serves the interests of the elite, the time has come to use the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership to refashion the global trading regime In the final pages of our book on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), written in spring of last year, we offered … Continue reading
The Coming Crisis: the monetary policy credibility trap
In the latest blog in SPERI’s series on ‘The Coming Crisis’ Jacqueline Best asks: what do central banks and governments do when exceptions to the monetary policy rules keep piling up? Quite a few commentators have noted that central bankers have become rather less boring of late. Since the 2008 financial crisis, central banks have taken on new roles and … Continue reading
The Coming Crisis: enduring imbalances in the Eurozone
In the third blog in SPERI’s new series on ‘the coming crisis’ Scott Lavery examines three areas of imbalance in the Eurozone and argues that the single currency area remains vulnerable to a future economic downturn Jean Monnet – one of the architects of the European integration process – once opined that “Europe will be forged in crises, and will … Continue reading
Lexit? Careful what you wish for…
A number of voices on the British left have in recent months pushed the idea of ‘Lexit’ – a progressive position in favour of Britain leaving the EU. While their critique of the EU has merit, their solution is counterproductive In July 2015 Owen Jones suggested that the British left should seriously consider ‘Lexit’ – a progressive position in favour … Continue reading
UK tabloids and the EU referendum: giving us the facts?
The way that the tabloid press is framing the choice is preventing an informed debate on EU migration Recently, I encountered a headline in The Sun entitled ‘Pole Chancers’. The article beneath the headline reported that a Polish newspaper had published a 20-page report aimed at convincing Poles to come to the UK because of the country’s generous welfare system. … Continue reading
Key questions for the coming EU referendum
We now have a date but there are plenty of big questions and unknown steps between now and 23rd June This was the tweet from European Council President Donald Tusk late in the evening of 19th February 2016 that indicated the marathon European Council session had found a deal on David Cameron’s renegotiation demands. It was followed the next day by … Continue reading
What would Cassandra say?
Prediction in politics and political economy is perilous, but has value in warning of outcomes that could still be avoided by political agency Prediction is a dark art – a terrain onto which political scientists and, perhaps even more so, political economists should venture only ever rarely, if at all. For, if there is one thing that all political scientists … Continue reading
The new view from The Bridge
Re-bordering is emerging in Scandinavia in one of the most symbolically borderless regions in Europe The completion of the Öresund Bridge in 2000 – immortalised in the well-known TV drama – changed both the physical and economic landscape of Denmark and Southern Sweden. The new train service brought the transit time between the two cities of Copenhagen and Malmö to … Continue reading
Facing up to the impending UK referendum on the European Union
The best way to counter the threat constituted by the referendum is to show that the EU can be remade to work better in the democratic service of its citizens At some point during the course of 2016, either in the summer or the autumn, it looks as if that fateful moment when the British people decide whether or not … Continue reading
Brexit and the logics of ableism
Interdependence is central to the lives of disabled people – yet an ideology of ableism, reflected in the Brexit vote, runs counter to this Since June and the fall-out from the EU referendum result many of us on the left of British politics (and the related media) have struggled to make sense of the decision to leave the EU. Trawling … Continue reading →
26 October 2016 by Dan Goodley
Categories: SPERI Comment | Tags: ableism, Brexit, disabled people, EUref, Human Activism, interdependence, Post-EU-Ref, racism, xenophobia | Leave a comment