Understanding the post-crisis landscape: assessing change in economic management, welfare, work and democracy

This seminar series explores the impact of the post-2007 global economic crisis upon key political economy outcomes across developed economies. It brings central debates within the academic literature to bear upon key policy discussions regarding economic management and regulation, welfare, work, and democratic political participation. The central premise underpinning the series is that the post-2007/8 crisis, and the policy responses witnessed to it, have the potential to unsettle the way in which citizens relate to each other and the state across a range of political economy issue areas. It seeks to outline and assess both current and alternative models of economic regulation, welfare, work, and democratic engagement in order to identify the potential for improvement in each of these areas and the political circumstances that might enable these advances to be achieved. It brings together academic scholars and members of the policy community to engage in a dialogue that goes beyond internal scholarly discussions and has the potential to inform policy outcomes that will have clear economic and political benefits.

The crisis was arguably caused by a failure of economic regulation. Initial government responses prompted questions surrounding whether we were witnessing a new, more interventionist form of state activity, especially in the areas of monetary and fiscal policy. These initial developments have subsequently given way to a move in most developed countries to a programme of welfare retrenchment. The crisis has also witnessed sustained and historically high levels of unemployment and an increase in part-time and fixed-term patterns of employment. Finally, each of these developments has been met by a range of novel and growing forms of political participation and protest. These occurrences are of central concern to political economy and its core focus on the political and social conditions under which economic and welfare policy settlements are formed. This therefore demands an engagement between the academic discipline of political economy and the concrete political economy outcomes that have occurred since 2007. This moreover needs to occur in a way that avoids academic insularity through a dialogue between the scholarly community and policy community. This seminar series therefore attempts to achieve this aim, bringing together academic experts, policymakers, and members of civil society to consider and assess current and alternative policy programmes and the conditions under which they are implemented and/or pursued.

The seminar series is divided into four substantive political economy themes, focusing on models of economic regulation, welfare, work, and democracy. It brings together individuals from think tanks, civil society organisations, media, government, civil service and campaign groups, in dialogue with high-profile academics, to consider both current and alternative policy options in each of the substantive areas. It therefore has the potential to advance efforts to improve economic and financial regulation, to balance reductions in public expenditure with the sustained provision of quality public services, and to consider the factors influencing the quality and quantity of employment, alongside an analysis of the democratic pressures for change that have emerged in each of these policy areas.

Each of the seminars includes members of the policy community including individuals in government, business, trade unions, think tanks, civil society, and campaign groups. The final seminar, moreover, will be hosted by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), a leading Brussels-based think-tank closely embedded within the Brussels policy community and with strong contacts with political actors across the member states of the European Union. This will provide a unique opportunity to facilitate direct contact and dialogue between the Investigators and key members of the policy community.

This seminar series will explore changes that have occurred to economic management regulation, welfare, work, and democracy in light of the post-2007 global economic crisis. As such, it relates to issues that have an impact upon the daily lives of all citizens and feature on a daily basis in media stories, reports and debates, and has the potential to benefit policymakers, elected political representatives and civil society actors as well as the general public.

One of the key aims of the seminar series will be to consider and assess current and alternative political economy outcomes. The focus is on economic management, welfare, work, and democracy. This therefore has clear potential to contribute to the political and socio-economic well-being and economic performance of the United Kingdom. Indeed, one of the central aims of the seminar series is to identify opportunities through which scholarly research, in dialogue with a broad range of members of the policy community, can inform the design and implementation of improved outcomes in each of the four areas of investigation.

The research presented will therefore be valuable to a range of non-academic audiences:

1. Policymakers, political parties and elected political representatives.
There exists an ongoing, lively and high profile policy debate in the areas of economic management, welfare, work, and democracy. Each of these have obviously increased in prominence and importance as a result of the crisis, with the policymakers increasingly seeking to design economic regulation models that are able to avoid a repeat of the financial crisis; to achieve fiscal health through a reduction in public expenditure, in combination with the sustained provision of quality public services; to tackle historically high levels of unemployment; and to engage with a range of novel forms of political participation that have arisen largely in response to the introduction of reduced spending on public services. In making a significant contribution to each of these issue areas, it is therefore anticipated that the seminar series will be of clear benefit to policymakers, political parties and elected political representatives. These types of individuals and organisations will be engaged through both direct involvement (Robert Porteous, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS); Claudio Borio, BIS; and the participants of the final seminar) and as set out in the Pathways to Impact.

2. Civil society and campaign organisations.
Whilst policy discussions amongst policymakers tend to consider the feasibility and functionality of policy alternatives, pressures for social change are also associated with the advocacy work of civil society and campaign organisations. For this reason, the findings and discussions of the seminar series will be closely focused on engaging with a range of such actors. These groups will benefit from the research of the seminars which will provide insight into the extent to which different policy models are possible, how they might be achieved, and the degree to which political and social obstacles and opportunities inhibit and/or engender such outcomes. These groups will be engaged as outlined in the Pathways to Impact and through the direct involvement of trade unions (Nicola Smith, TUC), think tanks (Ann Pettifor, New Economics Foundation), and civil society campaign groups (Ada Colau, Citizen's platform against housing evictions in Spain).

3. The general public.
Given the highly topical nature of the series and the way in which its subject matter impacts upon the daily lives of all citizens, the series will have clear benefit for the general public, who have an obvious interest in attempts to improve outcomes in each of the four policy areas under investigation. Furthermore, as a result of the strong media element of the series engagement strategy, it is anticipated that public awareness and debate on each of the issues will be enhanced.