In Austerity and social (in)security in Latvia¸ Jeffrey Sommers provides a convincing analysis of Latvia’s experiment with austerity. Following the global economic crisis of 2008, there has been wide debate over the role of austerity measures in promoting recovery, an ap-proach that has been implemented in countries across Europe such as Britain, Spain, and Greece. It is in this context that Latvia has been held up as a role model by Anders Aslund and former Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, who defends his program of cuts and argues for other countries to emulate Latvia in the book How Latvia came through the Financial Crisis. It is this “myth” that Sommers seeks to dismantle. Sommers achieves this by firstly refuting the argument …show more content…
Secondly, Sommers demonstrates the disastrous social consequences of poverty, emigration and even rising health problems that have resulted from the cuts pro-gramme, and finally he argues that behind the apparently promising recovery of the Latvian economy the country has “ignored real economic development”. This essay therefore serves both as an economic rejection of austerity and an analysis of the social and political situation surrounding austerity in Latvia and an influential contribution to the debate about it.
Sommers begins his work by taking apart the claim by Dombrovskis that austerity was chosen “by a mature electorate… voluntarily”. In response to claims that there was a broad national consensus in favour of austerity, Sommers emphasises the unique political situation in Latvia which allowed the pro-austerity Unity party to win two elections despite a lack of support for their destructive policies. In the face of the ethnically Russian “Harmony Centre” party seeking to make gains, issues of nationalism and race took centre stage in campaigning as ethnic Latvians were rallied to the Unity platform. The
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Poverty has increased by 158%, and income inequality has become one of the high-est in Europe. Despite Dombrovskis’ claim that the “austerity program was aimed at main-taining social assistance to the poor and pensioners, while cutting salaries of well-to-do minis-ters”, the austerity program and the tax system that was introduced was deeply regressive. With particularly severe cuts to health spending, there has been a visible increase in suicides and infant mortality, supporting the argument of David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu that “Aus-terity Kills”. Given this bleak social context, it is no wonder that Latvia has seen such high levels of emigration of working-age people, 14% of which have left the country since the start of the century. Dombrovskis has little response to this, ignoring the social effects and at-tempting to justify the cuts to health and education on the grounds of necessary restructuring, a weak reply to the statistical evidence that Sommers convincingly
This essay will address whether New Labour contained policies with which it wished to pursue, or was solely developed in order to win elections. It is important to realise whether a political party that held office for approximately 13 years only possessed the goal of winning elections, or promoted policies which it wished to pursue. If a party that held no substance was governing for 13 years, it would be unfair to the people. New Labour was designed to win elections, but still contained policies which it wished to pursue. To adequately defend this thesis, one must look at the re-branding steps taken by New Labour and the new policies the party was going to pursue. Through analysis, it will be shown that New Labour promoted policies in regards
When Europe fell into its depression, many European peasants were struggling to live. It was not a struggle of providing good lives for their families, it was a strug...
In his 1961, Richard Hornby claimed the Conservative Party was “the prisoner of no rigid set of principles” (Hornby, 1961). Rather, the Conservative party is “sceptical of theory and prefer a pragmatic approach” (Hornby, 1961), implying that “the conservatives [are] least influenced by any given ideology” (Knight, 2006, p34), and that the party “tends to be comfortable working within the assumptions already existing in society” (Ball, 1998, pp 162). This implies that the Conservative party should regarded as Ball states, a way of looking at the world” (Ball, 1998, p 162). Other notable ideas associated with Conservatism are historical flexibility, national unity and adaptability to changing circumstances within society (Ludlam and Smith, 1996, pp4-9). However, such an interpretation is challenged by claims that there are two rigid Conservative principles ;those that get them elected to government defined as policies “clearly popular with the electorate” (Marwick, 2000, p 184), and the Conservative party’s” appetite for power” (Ramsden, 1998, p495). In this essay, it shall be argued that the latter interpretation is the most accurate depiction of Conservative principles, during the period 1951-64. This shall be done by examining, the economic policies of the Conservative party in this period. The areas that will be examined are Conservatism in relation to: the post-1945 consensus surrounding nationalisation and trade unions, the implementation of Keynesianism as an economic orthodoxy, the economic policies of affluence and their political consequences, policy in relation to the Conservative government’s economic record from 1951-1964 and how the government dealt with nationalisation and trade unions, and the economic and politica...
Latvia, a country which first established its independence in 1918, was taken over by the Soviet Union in 1940 as a result of World War II, and the establishment of this new communist rule had many ramifications. The country became one of many under the rule of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and was forced to adhere to the strict rules the Soviets put in place, such as replacing the Latvian language with Russian and reprimanding those who did not comply, and eradicating Latvian culture by not allowing ethnic natives to practice their traditions (Plakans). While most of the Russian citizens of Latvia were anti-independence for the country, there were also some who were anti-Soviet and contributed to freeing Latvians from Soviet rule (Cliness). Many people were against
In “Loneliness And Its Opposite,” authors Kulick and Rydstrom observe how Denmark and Sweden, similar states in regards to welfare and attitudes, differ greatly in dealing
"Europe must prevent Greece from becoming an out-and-out catastrophe and make sure that the same fiscal 'remedy' is not applied to other weak economies" -- MEP, Franziska Brantner.
Compston Hugh. 2002. The New Politics of Unemployment: radical policy initiatives in Western Europe. Routledge.
George, S. and Bache, I. 2001.Politics In the European Union. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
There are a multitudinous number of both economic and social difficulties associated with unemployment. One fundamental reason why the government particularly stresses on reducing unemployment levels is as a result it poses a great cost on the economy. Not only does it affect the economy, but also it poses a great threat towards the living standards of the unemployed people itself. This could lead to many receiving less or no income based on whether or not they receive unemployment welfare benefits from the government. Reduction in income, would lead to a less disposable inc...
The Greek crisis is a result of an accumulation of dire policy mistakes. It all began when the previous Greek governments decided not to reveal their debts and deficits in order to fulfill the necessary requirements for the membership of the Eurozone. Furthermore, the government consisted of mass tax evasion as well as corruption. In 2009, the newly elected Greek government decided to expose the real debt and deficits’ figures, which brought much speculative waves regarding the economy. At the moment (since 2010) a number of organizations and countries are providing the Greek state with assistance in regards to alleviating their government debt. International organizations, such as the International Monetary Fund and the European Governing body, the European Union, are undergoing a set of policies designed to assist Greece in its debt crisis. One of the main supporters of the Greek economy is German...
*“Delocation and European Integration—is structural spending justified?” by Karen Midelfart-Knarvik and Henry Overman, in Economic Policy, October 2002.
7th edition. London: Pearson Longman, ed. Garner, R., Ferdinand, P. and Lawson, S. (2009) Introduction to Politics. 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
It is the role of every government to safeguard its people in all matters including controlling the economy. Every economy faces different challenges including the business cycles that may emanate from the global market. In this paper we try to examine measures taken by the UK’s coalition government in trying to ensure that the economy benefits every citizen and reduces the overall burden to it. We consider the recent comprehensive review on spending.
Today’s policies are essential to the development of the people; servicing the needs and interest of the citizens. Policy change builds a greater society; these revolutions are sometimes forced by external conditions “outside events or “shocks” – such as a change of government, an economi...
After the 1970s crises of uncontrolled inflation and the IMF bailout in 1979 a new government under Margaret Thatcher came to power. With this new government came controversial policy changes. While some policies followed by Thatcher’s government could be argued to have succeeded in the areas of bringing inflation under control and improving productivity, on closer inspection the statement that Thatcher left behind a ‘successful economy’ in 1990 seems doubtful. Her achievements when analysed in more detail, appear to have come at the unacceptable cost of higher inequality and unemployment. In addition to this, policies followed were often were short-sighted and may have led only to temporary success that did not continue into the 1990s.