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result(s) for
"Cerami, Alfio"
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New Social Risks in Central and Eastern Europe: The Need for a New Empowering Politics of the Welfare State
This article examines the economic and social transformation occurring in post-communist societies, with a particular focus on the emergence of new social risks (NSRs) and the subsequent welfare state responses.
It argues that Central and Eastern European countries are characterised by broader NSR types (a mix of old and new social risks) and groups than those present in the West. In order to deal more effectively with the requirements of the post-industrial, knowledge-based, and service economy, the reasons for a new political economy of skill formation and for a new empowering politics of the welfare state capable of strengthening the potential of individuals to adapt to more fl exible labour markets are discussed. The new empowering politics of the welfare state proposed here would consist of four main pillars: 1) a guaranteed minimum income; 2) a basic income for children; 3) state investments for education and human capital formation; and 4) a guaranteed basic pension. The aim is to empower the individual through decommodification, childhood investment, human capital formation, and a rebalancing of life risks. The article concludes by reflecting on the political feasibility of this proposal.
Journal Article
The Politics of Social Security Reforms in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia
In 1989 Central and Eastern European policy-makers were suddenly confronted with the difficult task of restructuring a welfare system under a completely different economic and political system. The restructuring of welfare institutions accompanied the emergence of new and serious societal problems. More and more people were hit by unemployment and poverty, the family pattern in force during communism had to be re-discussed, and also protection during old age and sickness had to be renegotiated. Reforms started immediately and involved important structural changes. The four Visegrad
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countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) raised retirement age and pension insurance contributions while reducing the pay-as-you-go principle, introduced health insurance while guaranteeing the access to health care through the obligation of the state to ensure unprotected citizens, implemented a German-like unemployment insurance consisting usually of three pillars (unemployment benefits, unemployment assistance and social assistance), reduced the family benefits heritage of the communist system while continuing to pursue pro-natalist policy and extensive childcare provisions (very often until the child is enrolled in university education), as well as establishing a basic safety net for those citizens at persistent risk of poverty (Cerami 2006).
Book Chapter
The Lights of Iraq: Electricity Usage and the Iraqi War-fare Regime
This article explores the lights of Iraq, Iraq's variety of capitalism (VoC) and its system of public and fiscal governance. The first section examines Iraq's VoC, which I define oil-led state-captured capitalism with associated oil-led state-captured war-fare regime. In formerly ISIS-occupied territories, war developments turned the system into an Insurgent ISIS-captured capitalism with associated Insurgent ISIS-captured war-fare regime. The second section investigates electricity usage. The nighttime lights analysis is based on near real-time big data. It includes high-resolution remote-sensing and satellite imagery from the NASA Earth Observatory. I use the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor on the Suomi NPP satellite. Data on greenhouse gases are obtained through the AQUA and TERRA satellites derived from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors. I also use the AURA satellite with the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) sensor, as well as the TERRA satellite with the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) sensor. The third part discusses the repercussions of electricity usage for good governance, for good regulatory and for good fiscal practices, as well as for development and growth. The concluding part briefly discusses the “taxman approach” and the introduction of a new fiscal contract necessary to resolve negative incentives in oil-led war economies.
Paper
Complexity Theory, Democratic Transition and Public Policy Choices in Iraq
This article adopts Complexity Theory to improve understanding of Iraq's future patterns ofdemocratic stabilization and consolidation. It emphasizes the importance of soft technologies, aswell as hard technologies for making better public policy choices. The article also sheds light onIraq's institutional evolution, on its processes and mechanisms of variation and replication. Itemphasizes the importance of new culturally-sensitive public policies and political economies. Thefirst part of the article briefly describes the main political, economic, social and cultural changes inIraq since the fall of the Saddam regime. The second part discusses the system of social security inIraq and in formerly ISIS controlled territories. The final section deals with important challenges ofde-radicalization necessary that are necessary for the democratization, liberalization,institutionalization and consolidation of new institutions. A new spatial politics of public policymaking in formerly ISIS-occupied territories is also discussed in the concluding section.
Paper
The Night Lights of North Korea. Prosperity Shining and Public Policy Governance
This article looks into the night lights of North Korea and their relationship to prosperity shining. The first introductory section discusses the political economy of North Korea. It highlights its strengths and shortcomings. The second section introduces to new methods of geo-spatial micro and macro econometric analysis. The following night lights analysis is based on near real-time big data. It includes high-resolution remote-sensing and satellite imagery from the NASA (Earth Obervatory) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor on the Suomi NPP satellite. The third and fourth section addresses important issues related to North Korea's prices, co-optation and mobilization of anger. The final section deal with problems in public policy administration.
Paper
Social Aspects of Transformation
The fall of the Berlin Wall marked not the end of the transition to democracy but its beginning, with still uncertain outcomes in terms of electoral continuity and change. In order to provide a more comprehensive picture of the regime vulnerabilities and instabilities that stem from the difficult transition from a centrally planned, authoritarian economy to a free market-oriented democracy, this paper discusses the most important aspects of the transformation that has occurred in Central and Eastern Europe since the end of communism. These aspects include key patterns of social change, social welfare, social problems, and associated social pathologies. Understanding what worked and what went wrong in the social policy domain will improve our understanding of the prospects for future and more successful reforms in this region, as well as in other transitional and developing countries currently on the road to democracy. The first section of this paper provides a brief overview of the key patterns of social change, including social welfare, social problems, and social pathologies, as well citizens' adaptation to the new environment. The second section discusses similarities and differences among countries in order to understand what policy options have been more successful and why. The third section complements this analysis by addressing ten areas where we can learn from previous mistakes.
Paper
Social Protection and The Politics of Anger in the Middle East and North Africa
This article investigates the confessional resource dependent welfare regimes of the Middle East and North Africa. It emphasizes the elite-captured nature of resources as well as the dependence of these regimes on oil and gas revenues or the acquisition from state-assets. The article pays a special attention to religious and other non-state actors in the administration and delivery of social protection. By examining key institutional features in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Jordan, Morocco, Syria, Yemen and Tunisia, the article also highlights the ways in which differential sets of social protection institutions succeeded in ensuring social peace and loyalty to the regimes. In addition, by identifying shortcomings and strengths in the administration of public goods, the article highlights the prospects for future and more successful reforms. In the conclusions, the \"politics of anger\" that led to the Arab Spring of 2011 is briefly elucidated.
Paper
Social Mechanisms in the Establishment of the European Economic and Monetary Union
This paper investigates the reasons, the transformative processes and the social mechanisms involved in the establishment of the European economic and monetary union (EMU). Contrary to commonly accepted theories and approaches used to explain institutional change, it argues that the establishment of the EMU has not simply been the product of historical paths, the rational choices of actors, or social construction of new economic ideas and preferences, as new-institutionalists or social constructivists would emphasize, but also and, perhaps, even more importantly, it has been the product of self-fulfilling prophecies that have facilitated and accelerated the process of institutional change. By adopting a Sociology of European Integration perspective, this paper also discusses the role of four crucial forces that initiating a causal chain of social mechanisms have helped in the establishment of the EMU: context-bounded rationality, embodied institutions, reflexivity and double-contingency.
Paper