Suchergebnisse

A NUMBER OF GRIM SCENARIOS DERIVING FROM RISING UNEMPLOYMENT IN EUROPE'S SOUTH CAN EASILY BE IMAGINED. HOWEVER, NONE HAVE YET COME TO PASS. WHAT IS WORKING IN SOUTHERN EUROPE TO MILITATE AGAINST THESE NEGATIVE OUTCOMES? THIS IS THE CENTRAL QUESTION MOTIVATING THIS ESSAY. THE QUESTION IS ADDRESSED THROUGH AN EXAMINATION OF FOUR EXPLANATIONS DERIVED FROM THE BROADER LITERATURES ON POLITICAL MOBILIZATION AND PARTICIPATION. THEY CONCERN THE NATURE OF STATE COMPENSATORY SCHEMES, THE NATURE OF LEFT COALITIONS IN THE SOUTH, THE NATURE OF WORK ITSELF, AND THE NATURE OF THE FAMILY. THOUGH SOUTHERN EUROPE EMBRACES PORTUGAL, SPAIN, GREECE, AND ITALY, THIS ESSAY CONCENTRATES ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY ON THE FIRST THREE COUNTRIES.

Summarizes social assistance programs & outcomes in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, & Turkey, drawing on 1992 questionnaire data from all 24 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development. A distinct social assistance regime is identified, characterized by the absence of a national minimum income safety net with categorical schemes for the aged & local discretionary relief for most other groups. Benefits are low or nonexistent & out of line with the rest of Europe. These characteristics are explained in terms of their common structural features & political processes. It is argued that fundamental reforms are unlikely owing to the marginality of social assistance programs in southern Europe. 5 Tables, 1 Appendix, 36 References. Adapted from the source document.

Paper prepared for the 2nd International Research Conference on Social Security Jerusalem, 25-28 January 1998 ; 'Safety net' is regarded as the bottom-line of social welfare. Its establishment in Western democracies aims at providing citizens and families with basic means that guarantee the satisfaction of minimum vital needs and facilitate social integration. In Southern Europe (Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) the building up of nets of social assistance is highly conditioned by the nature of its welfare development and institutional peculiarities. Four elements can be underlined in this respect: (a) Fragmented social protection of an occupational nature; (b) A type of family in which women carry out a pivotal role for assistance and care; (c) A particularist distribution of welfare resources and fiscal transfers; and (d) An increasing role for the 'third sector' in the provision of social services. The paper looks at issues regarding the targeting of the poor, the 'Mathew effect', the Southern family, and the implementation of minimum income programmes for the excluded and poor in decentralised Spain. ; Peer reviewed

It has been argued that political parties are weakening. In Southern Europe, however, political parties have shown remarkable pragmatism. Not only have they played a crucial role in the installation and consolidation of democracy, mostly in the 1970s and 1980s, but they have also adapted to the aftermaths of severe political crises during the 1990s. Party Change in Southern Europe addresses a basic issue: Have parties in Southern Europe weakened over the decade 1995-2005? Or have they rather changed? And if so, how have they changed? To answer these questions the authors ana

1. The improbable metropolis : decentralisation and local democracy against metropolitan areas in the Western world / Christian Lefevre -- 2. The institutional dimension to urban governance and territorial management in the Lisbon metropolitan area / Jose Luis Crespo and Joao Cabral -- 3. Competitiveness and cohesion : urban government and governance's strains of Italian cities / Francesca Governa -- 4. Urban governance and the 'profiles' of southern Italy cities / Carla Tedesco -- 5. The challenges of urban renewal : 10 lessons from the Catalan experience / Oriol Nel-lo -- 6. Cities and urban and metropolitan regions in Spain : a new agenda in a global context / Joan Romero-Gonzalez and Joaquin Farinos-Dasi -- 7. The governance of French towns : from the centre-periphery scheme to urban regimes / Gilles Pinson -- 8. Integrated urban interventions in Greece : local relational realities unsettled / Ioannis Chorianopoulos -- 9. A city hall for the competitive city : urban management and urban governance in Slovenia / Irena Baclija -- 10. Urban governance in Istanbul / Nil Uzun -- 11. Urban governance in the South of Europe : cultural identities and global dilemmas / Joao Seixas and Abel Albet.