Neoliberalism, Inequalities and Social Movements in the European Union

Dokmanović, Mirjana and Cvetićanin, Neven (2020) Neoliberalism, Inequalities and Social Movements in the European Union. In: Strategic Streams 2019 : European Elections and the Future of Europe. Institute of social sciences, Belgrade, pp. 105-125. ISBN 978-86-7093-232-6

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Abstract

The paper discusses the growing literature on the interrelations between neoliberal policy and rising inequalities in the European Union, and their impact to the growing social movements. The analysis shows that inequalities within the EU member states and between them are the results of the current EU policy due to fostering marketization, trade liberalization, privatization and financialization at the expense of social, economic and political rights of the majority. This trend has induced social movements to campaign and advocate for social changes. These civil society networks share same position in demanding transformation of the current ‘market Europe’ into ‘social Europe’. Their proposals to counter economic difficulties are based on introducing transformative economies that ‘works for people’. They advocate for alternative economic models, prioritizing socioeconomic justice, gender justice, tax justice, food justice and environmental justice. Thus, their position is far from populist ‘radical right’. The analysis also shows that these social movement networks may constitute corrective to democracy.

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