Inequality

Inequality helped set in motion a downward spiral that resulted in the global financial crisis. Today, that inequality has finally been acknowledged as a central problem, and addressing it successfully can help us to not only overcome the crisis but to move to a more sustainable society.

An interview with Fintan Farrell, Director of the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN).

Belgian philosopher Philippe Van Parijs analysis the issue of inequality from a European and international perspective. Comparing the contrasting the economic systems of the US and Europe, he outlines a series of measures to reduce inequalities that exists across Europe today.

We need a new social contract based on the ideals of the American and French Revolutions, says Pierre Rosanvallon, whose recent book La société des égaux has attracted much attention in France and beyond. Rosanvallon, professor at the College de France, delivered the Jan Pato?ka Memorial Lecture at the iwm in November 2011. This article was originally published in the Institut für die Humane Wissenschaften.

Why do the Greens need to reconsider the ideal of equality in the light of the ecologic and economic crises and what are the challenges linked with such a project? GEJ editor-in-chief Benoit Lechat introduces the 4th edition of the Green European Journal “Equality and Sustainability”.

Looking beyond (de)growth, what sort of economic and political changes are required in Croatia to bring about both an equitable and sustainable economy?

While we “miserably await a future, which restores the past”, we should “break with this dying society never to be reborn”. Such was the certitude of philosopher André Gorz, who passed away just five years ago.

The success of the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the first round of the French Presidential election, and the success of similar nationalistic parties in other European countries, has left many wondering how the greens and progressive forces should respond to this perceived threat to European values. Edouard Gaudot suggests that the answer lies in offering hope to those who feel rejected by the political and economic system.

Austerity in Britain has a face. That face is female. That face is a mother of a dependent child. A mother with a job – although a job she may well lose in the next couple of years through no fault of her own. A very poor paying, part-time job, renting at high cost in the private sector, in a home that’s poorly insulated and expensive to heat.

With one of the highest growth rates in the European Union, the Polish economy seems to escape the crisis. But there is another side of the coin. The Polish are working more and more but earning less. This is the result of a practical obligation to systematically work overtime during weekends and the impossibility of taking annual leave. But what is the social impact of this inequality?