Privatisation of public services in the EU

An attack on social cohesion and democracy

Bibliographic Data

ID21189884
AuthorsBirgit Mahnkopf (Berlin School of Economics and Law, corresponding author), Birgit Mahnkopf Birgit Mahnkopf
Year2008
Volume2
Issue2
Publication date2008-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueWork Organisation Labour & Globalisation (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1745-641X • E-ISSN: 1745-6428
PublisherPluto Journals (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.13169/workorgalaboglob.2.2.0072
OpenAlexW2318146039
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited9

In the past, universal access to essential public services served as an important mechanism for generating a good relationship between the market, social cohesion and democracy in many European countries. But, with the growing dominance of the mode of ‘negative integration’ across the continent, citizens are being reconstituted as consumers and small shareholders. Meanwhile, privatisation of public services steamrolls the results of the ‘decommodification of wage labour’ achieved in the short ‘social democratic century’. Drawing on the results of the EU-funded Co-ordination Action PRESOM (Privatisation and the European Social Model) this paper argues that in the long run these developments might affect the democratic functioning of the Union and the integration process as a whole. Further information about PRESOM can be found on http://www.presom.eu

Business · Civil society · Corporate governance · Democracy · Economic policy · Economic system · Economics · European union · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Shareholder · Social integration · Wage · European Union Policy and Governance

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