The Future of the European “Social Model” in the Global Economy

This article examines the prospects for European welfare states in the context of globalization. It begins with a critical review of the globalization arguments. While there is some evidence that external constraints make life harder for policymakers seeking positive-sum outcomes, it is the combination of national debt and spending limits, plus domestic tax resistance, that really count in making expenditure-based social and employment policies more difficult in certain countries. In understanding the constraints and opportunities that will shape Europe's welfare future, globalization—crudely understood—is therefore much less influential than many suppose. While EMU has radically diminished national autonomy in exchange rate, monetary policy, and fiscal policy, there are also beneficial consequences for social policy and broader economic management. On the employment and social policy side, initiatives required to match greater flexibility with sustained security are now at the top of the EU agenda, and mechanisms for diffusing best practice across Europe are being put in place. Within this framework, European welfare states must place more emphasis on dynamic equality, being primarily attentive to the worst off, more hospitable to incentive-generating differentiation, and actively vigilant with regard to the openness of opportunity structures.     

The micro‐organisation of backwardness in Central Sardinia: A reappraisal of Luxemburg's ‘three phases’ of underdevelopment 1

It is argued here that unlike theories which view underdevelopment from the ‘world system’ perspective, Rosa Luxemburg's critical elaboration of the concept of primitive accumulation is a key contribution to the understanding of dependency and backwardness at the local level. Luxemburg outlines three phases in the destruction of pre‐capitalist formations by capitalism: the separation of the producer from the traditional bonds and hierarchies; introduction of a commodity economy and the separation of handicraft from agriculture; the separation of the producer from the means of production. In contrast to Luxemburg, it is argued that this final phase has not often been fully achieved and that it has been replaced by a partial/temporal separation of peasant producers from their means of production. Luxemburg's approach nevertheless shows how economistic interpretations which deal neither with the transformation of the class structure nor the internal political structure of dependent societies can be overcome. The case material here, which confirms much of Luxemburg's three phase schema stems from a community study conducted by one of the authors in Sardinia.     

The Role of Symmetry between the Revenue and the Expenditure Side of the Government Budget in the Debate about the Potential Negative Effects of Tax Competition

The effects of capital tax competition are reconsidered in this paper incorporating the argument that the expenditure structure of public budget should reflect its revenue structure. The paper offers a small open economy model where capital and labour tax revenues are used exclusively on the provision of public inputs. It is shown that if the revenue side of the government budget exactly matches the expenditure side that is if industrial public goods are financed by both private production factors with the weights reflecting the contributions of public inputs to the private factor productivity then public inputs are provided optimally even in the presence of tax competition.     

Institutional exclusion as a destabilizing factor: the mass unrest of 1 July 2008 in Mongolia

The paper discusses the 1 July 2008 mass protest in Mongolia. This event has no precedent in Mongolian history and represents a challenge for the social sciences as neither scholars nor political leaders predicted or even admitted its eventuality. Several forms of exclusion – economic, social and institutional – are considered as its potential source. It is argued that the theory of institutional exclusion allows making better sense of the situation. Institutional exclusion means the alienation of ordinary people from government and their inability to rely on the law and official procedures when being engaged in everyday activities. Two sources of primary data inform the analysis: a series of structured interviews with the protesters (N?=?20) and a collection of visual records made during the unrest (N?=?244). The data were processed using methods of both qualitative and quantitative content analysis.     

Entering a New Stage

This September celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Over the years, the bloc has demonstrated it-self to be a convenient platform for resolving security issues in the Greater Central Asia region. After its founding in 1996, the Shanghai Five, the predecessor of the SCO that grouped China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, was able to effec-tively settle the issue of demarcating the borders of the newly independent former Soviet states with China. This is one of the most important events in the formation of independence and recognition of the Central Asian states.     

Uses and Abuses of Sexuality in Social Interactions: Empirical Evidence from Russia

This article is based on an analysis of 19 in-depth qualitative interviews conducted in four regions of the Russian Federation between 2002 and 2004. Issues related to reliance on the body in human interactions outside the sphere of intimate relationships are explored. It is argued that the lack of adequate means of co-ordination in politics and in professional activities induce references to the body in unsuitable contexts and formats of interaction. Links between the body and two other co-ordination devices, convention and power, are explored. Two cases, namely sexual harassment and machismo, are considered in greater detail.     

The European Union as an Alternative to the Nation-State

The article describes the specific character of the European Union??its status as an unfinished federal quasi-state, the EU??s potential as one global actor among others and the motivation behind the ongoing process of integration, especially the EU??s antithetical character concerning nationalism. The article analyses the different theoretical approaches to explain why the Union has become what it is??and why it has not become a different entity. It also discusses the question of different interests promoting or opposing further integration. The basic argument is that the EU provides??in a period of declining state power??the possibility to reconstruct politics and government on a transnational level.