Contar la crisis: materiales narrativos en la semántica social de la crisis

Basado en la evidencia proporcionada por 9 grupos de discusión, este trabajo aborda la semántica social de la crisis en el marco de la hipótesis propuesta por Janet Roitman. En consecuencia propone retratar distintas estrategias narrativas que permiten dar cuenta de la experiencia de la crisis según cuatro ejes de contraposiciones: agencia/paciencia, moralización/poder, coyuntura/cronicidad, destrucción/creación. En su parte final, propone fijar los rasgos fundamentales de los sujetos que aparecen en seno de las tramas narrativas propuestas.

La situación de los museos españoles ante la crisis. El patrimonio implicado

La crisis como coyuntura y tránsito a una nueva situación, y el cambio social que parece conllevar, lejos de ser un fenómeno exclusivamente actual, viene acompañando a los museos españoles desde décadas atrás, debido a indecisiones, faltas de planificación, cambios políticos y de estrategias de funcionamiento. Pero será a partir de la Transición democrática, y la década de 1980, en que comenzará a fraguarse la llamada “burbuja” de los museos, que estalla bajo el “efecto Guggenheim” a finales del siglo XX, seguida de la merma de presupuestos oficiales para el sostenimiento del sistema museístico que trae como consecuencia la tan mencionada “crisis” económica desde aproximadamente 2008. El artículo examina esta situación y advierte de que el momento delicado que viven los museos en la actualidad es ocasión para replantearse su futuro y adaptarse a una nueva realidad cambiante. El Museo Etnológico de Navarra “Julio Caro Baroja” constituye un caso de adaptación a tales circunstancias.

La ruptura de una economía moral y las deslegitimación de las deudas hipotecarias

In Spain, during the recent housing bubble, purchasing a home seemed the most advantageous strategy to access housing, and there was a wide social consensus about the unavoidability of mortgage indebtedness. However, such consensus has been challenged by the financial and real-estate crisis. The victims of home repossessions have been affected by the transgression of several principles, such as the fair compensation for effort and sacrifice, the prioritisation of basic needs over financial commitments, the possibility of a second chance for over-indebted people, or the State's responsibility to guarantee its citizens' livelihood. Such principles may be understood as part of a moral economy, and their transgression has resulted in the emergence of a social movement, the Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca (PAH), that is questioning the legitimacy of mortgage debts. The article reflects on the extent to which the perception of over-indebtedness and evictions as unfair situations can have an effect on the reproduction of the political-economic system, insofar the latter is perceived as able or unable to repair injustice.

From the transformation to the bancarization of the spanishsaving banks: an analysis of the results pursued

This research arises due to the current restructuring process in which is immersed the Spanish banking sector. The above mentioned process is carried out to try to reduce the doubts on the viability of the bank companies to average and long term and to be able to return again the confidence in the sector. Though the economic and financial crisis has concerned the whole banking sector, the subsector of the Spanish savings banks is the one that has experienced a major number of integrations (articulated by means of mergers, absorptions and across Institutional Protection Schemes -IPSs-), and the one that has met submitted to the bancarization process. Considering what has been said, the present paper analyses Spanish saving banks to try to discern whether thanks to that process the objectives pursued by the bank rearrangement have been fulfilled. To do this, the evolution of some important financial variables will be studied over a long period of time (1999-2012). The results suggest that not all the savings banks have seen improved their ratios of efficiency, solvency, financial gap and social work, which indicates that there is still much to be done in order to rectify the problems affecting the studied sector.

Market reforms and privatisation in the English National Health Service

The article examines developments in the marketisation and privatisation of the English National Health Service, primarily since 1997. It explores the use of competition and contracting out in ancillary services and the levering into public services of private finance for capital developments through the Private Finance Initiative. A substantial part of the article examines the repeated restructuring of the health service as a market in clinical services, initially as an internal market but subsequently as a market increasing opened up to private sector involvement. Some of the implications of market processes for NHS staff and for increased privatisation are discussed. The article examines one episode of popular resistance to these developments, namely the movement of opposition to the 2011 health and social care legislative proposals. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these system reforms for the founding principles of the NHS and the sustainability of the service.

Migrant domestic workers, vulnerability and the law: immigration and employment laws in Cyprus and Spain

The intersection of gender, welfare and immigration regimes has been one of the main focus of a rich scholarship on paid domestic work in Europe. This article brings into the discussion the nexus of employment and immigration law regimes to reflect on the role of legal regulation in structuring and reducing the vulnerability of domestic workers. I analyse this nexus by looking at the cases of Cyprus and Spain, two states falling under the cluster of Southern Mediterranean welfare regimes, that share certain characteristics in terms of immigration regimes, but have substantially different employment law regulation models. The first part sketches the debate on the employment law regulation of domestic work. The second part starts by giving an overview of the immigration regimes of Cyprus and Spain in relation to migrant domestic workers and then proceeds to analyse the two countries’ models and substance of employment law regulation in domestic work. The comparison of these two divergent approaches informs the debate on how the legal regulation of domestic work should be best structured. In Spain there have been recent dynamic legislative changes in the employment law regulation of domestic work. The final part of the article traces these changes and reflects on why such processes have not taken place in Cyprus.

Eurobonos: evolución y soluciones de la deuda en Europa

En este trabajo se analizan los principales problemas derivados de la gestión de la deuda pública, discutiendo si es un problema latente o puntual. A continuación, se propone un mecanismo solución a la crisis de deuda soberana que sufren los países de la Eurozona en el marco de la crisis financiera internacional. Dicho mecanismo consiste en la combinación de un proceso de reestructuración unido a la creación de un sistema común de emisión de deuda soberana en la Eurozona, denominado habitualmente como Eurobonos. Por tanto, el objetivo de esta investigación es ofrecer los elementos analíticos necesarios para comprender las posibles soluciones a los problemas de la deuda pública.

Las infraestructuras de recarga y el despegue del vehículo eléctrico.

Este trabajo revisa la evolución y estado actual de la automoción eléctrica; analiza las ventajas ambientales, de eficiencia energética y de costes del motor eléctrico frente al de combustión interna; y presenta como limitaciones para el uso del vehículo eléctrico, el desarrollo actual de las baterías recargables y la lenta implantación de electrolineras. Con el objetivo de contribuir al desarrollo de una actividad económica respetuosa con el medio ambiente y basada en nuevas tecnologías, se proyecta, a partir de experiencias previas, una instalación de puntos de recarga para una ciudad de 50.000 habitantes con un parque de 100 vehículos eléctricos que dispone de dos plazas de recarga rápida (poste trifásico 400V CA), siete plazas de recarga lenta (postes monofásicos 230V CA) y de 50 módulos fotovoltaicos que producen diariamente la energía equivalente a la recarga lenta de un vehículo en los meses fríos y de dos en los meses cálidos.

Green Economy and Employment: employment potential of the ecological transition in Spain

The Green Economy offers real possibilities for productive innovation, economic growth and employment creation in Spain. These three factors are critical to facilitate the necessary change in the productive model to overcome the crisis. However, the measures taken by the current Conservative government have moved in the opposite direction: significant cutting in incentives for renewable, increasing tax burden on renewable energy production to self-consumption and privatizing public spaces of social and environmental interest. This hinders the achievement of the environmental objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy. A strategy that is born already in itself highly limited, unambitious and subordinated to the interests of energy oligopolies and the imperatives of the Stability and Growth Pact (Maastricht) and the Austerity policies imposed from EU institutions to overcome the 2008 financial crisis. So the Ecological Transition goes further, claiming a substantially change in Economic Policy away form the increasing commodification proposed by the Green Economy. Despite these limitations, young and unemployed people have much to gain from a comprehensive development of environmental industries. Therefore, innovative-sustainable plans, investment and training in green sectors are necessary to make easier the transition from a services low-valued economy to an innovative and sustainable model to make our country an environmental reference in Europe.

Weaving Futures. Family Transnationalism in the migration from Dominican Republic and Brazil to Spain

This article explores forms of migrant families’ reorganization within a (new) global economic crisis and the hardening of migration control in Europe; based on the cases of Dominican and Brazilian migration to Spain.Our goal is not to characterize the wholeness of strategies from these collectives, instead visualize its heterogeneity. Displacement of Dominican and Brazilian population to Spain shares the role of women as the first link of migration chains. In both cases women are the economic support of transnational families and they lead reunification's processes. Nevertheless, differences in the time spent in the destination country, migratory status, origin (rural-urban), level of education, class and labor insertion in destination country, affect differently, the planning and start up of migration projects, the organization of care and family reunification strategies. These findings question the predominant place granted to national origin in the study of international migration.

Social economy and economic crisis in the basque country abstract

This article examines the socio-economic evolution of the social economy sector in the Basque Country during the 2008-2014 period of economic crisis. Data have been obtained within a framework of collaboration between university, Basque Government and private sector of the social economy. The results suggest that such entities have evolved better, both in terms of number of enterprises and employment, than the general economy of the Basque Country, while the context of public policies aimed at social economy has worsened over the years. However, in economic terms (measured through the Gross Value Added generated), they have not been able to cope with the crisis in equal conditions to the general economy. The main contribution of this research lies in that, unlike similar studies, it discusses the evolution of the whole sector of the social economy, taking as reference a broad period of the current economic crisis.

El diagnóstico de la crisis de la cultura en España: del recorte público a la crisis sistémica

Desde su invención en los años cincuenta, la política cultural ha sido objeto de análisis y reflexión por parte de las ciencias sociales. No obstante, en España presenta una serie de características diferenciadoras frente a las democracias occidentales europeas como consecuencia del periodo franquista. Con la recuperación de la democracia España adquiere el paradigma dominante de una política cultural democrática basada en la libertad, el pluralismo y el derecho a la cultura. Sin embargo, tras décadas de gobiernos democráticos el diagnóstico de la política cultural en España presenta rasgos de crisis sistémica, además de los efectos de la crisis global financiera de inicios del siglo XXI. En este contexto, los autores diagnostican, aplicando la metodología Delphi y recurriendo a fuentes secundarias, un conjunto de discursos sociales y narrativas que parecen funcionar como recursos cognitivos solucionistas en la esfera artística y cultural y que no están exentos de contradicciones y aporías, fruto de su contraste empírico.

Economic crisis and national health system

The text analyzes the impact of the economic crisis in some critical aspects of the National Health System: outcomes, health expenditure, remuneration policy and privatization through Private Public Partnership models. Some health outcomes related to social inequalities are worrying. Reducing public health spending has increased the fragility of the health system, reduced wage income of workers in the sector and increased heterogeneity between regions. Finally, the evidence indicates that privatization does not mean more efficiency and better governance. Deep reforms are needed to strengthen the National Health System.

El impacto de la crisis en la industria cinematográfica en Europa

Este trabajo analiza el impacto que ha generado la crisis económica y financiera más reciente en las industrias cinematográficas de siete países miembros de la Unión Europea. Las conclusiones señalan que, en efecto, la crisis ha impactado negativamente en las industrias de España e Italia, y muy gravemente en la de Portugal, pero en el lado contrario, la del Reino Unido ha experimentado un crecimiento apreciable y las de Francia y Alemania también lo han hecho, aunque en menor medida. Y en segundo lugar, es muy notable la escasa colaboración alcanzada entre los agentes europeos.

Gendered Responses to Global Crisis: Circular Migration and Return among Ecuadorian Families in Spain and Ecuador

This paper analyzes the impact of Spain’s economic crisis on social reproduction strategies of Ecuadorian migrant families in Madrid and Quito. The paper analyzes circular migration experiences and more permanent returns to Ecuador. I argue that these strategies and migrants' greater or lesser capabilities to move between different migration destinations show significant gender differences. On the one hand, men and women make a differential use of their migratory status to deploy transnational strategies and expand their mobility. On the other hand, migrants’ degree of mobility and flexibility with regard to the labor market and transnational social reproduction are derivative of a specific gendered order and sexual division of labor.