Suchergebnisse

"Explores employment relations in three key European countries: France, Germany and the UK. The comparative approach examines key areas of employment relations to analyse national differences and similarities. This comparative text fills the gap between single country studies of employment relations and more broad-brush multi-country approaches"--

This article sets out to explain why mandatory gender pay gap reporting regulations were introduced in 2016, whereas the two main parties had previously opposed state regulation. Observing the rise in the number of female MPs, it argues that the rise in descriptive representation has enabled substantive representation, but that this does not necessarily explain outcomes. Critical mass is a problematic concept due to difficulties of definition. Rather, the empirical evidence supports the idea that critical actors able to build alliances within the state machinery and beyond it, particularly by working with business influencers, are decisive in exploiting opportunities for change and securing support for it. Feminization of parliament and government also facilitate institutionalization of gender equality actors, although this process remains incomplete and contingent.

This article provides a critical overview of labour and employment policy during the Hollande presidency, evaluating the extent of continuity and change between 2012 and 2017. Although the term of office may be divided into three broad phases, with a shift towards more liberalising, business-friendly policies over time, it is argued that the period as a whole shows a high degree of continuity, with liberalising measures already evident from 2012. The policy output may be characterised as a project of 'bounded flexibility' in which marketisation is contained within certain limits as defined by trade unions' ability to set the agenda of social partner negotiations. However, towards the end of the presidency the push towards labour law reform, whilst falling short of a wholesale revision of France's protective legislative architecture, ushered in key changes which the Macron presidency intends to take forward and radicalise, leading to a potential 'tipping point' of labour market deregulation. The Hollande presidency therefore holds important lessons for our understanding of social democracy at times of economic crisis and austerity.

Emmanuel Macron, the leader of France's new En Marche! movement, announced he would run for the French presidency this week. Who is this self-proclaimed 'outsider', and is he really as distant from the political establishment as he claims to be? Susan Milner looks at the challenges facing Macron as he joins a crowded field of presidential candidates.