Politicising Commodification: European Governance and Labour Politics from the Financial Crisis to the Covid Emergency [Paperback]

Analyses the EU's post-2008 economic governance regime and the labour protests it triggered that threw a lifeline to EU democracy.Analyses the EU's new economic governance (NEG) interventions in labour relations and public services (transport, water, healthcare) since 2008; the countervailing social movements that NEG triggered; and their feedback effects on the EU's post-Covid governance regime and EU democracy. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.Analyses the EU's new economic governance (NEG) interventions in labour relations and public services (transport, water, healthcare) since 2008; the countervailing social movements that NEG triggered; and their feedback effects on the EU's post-Covid governance regime and EU democracy. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.This book examines the new economic governance (NEG) regime that the EU adopted after 2008. Its novel research design captures the supranational formulation of NEG prescriptions and their uneven deployment across countries (Germany, Italy, Ireland, Romania), policy areas (employment relations, public services), and sectors (transport, water, healthcare). NEG led to a much more vertical mode of EU integration, and its commodification agenda unleashed a plethora of union and social-movement protests, including transnationally. The book presents findings that are crucial for the prospects of European democracy, as labour politics is essential in framing the struggles about the direction of NEG along a commodificationdecommodification axis rather than a nationalEU axis. To shed light on corresponding processes at EU level, it upscales insights on the historical role that labour movements have played in the development of democracy and welfare states. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.1. Introduction; Part I. Analytical Framework: 2. European economic governance and labour politics; 3. A paradigm shift in European integration andlã›