Christoph Scherrer

Essay from the year 2015 in the subject Politics - Topic: Globalization, Political Economics, University of the Sunshine Coast Queensland, language: English, abstract: The primary purpose of this essay is to address the pros and cons of TTIP, mainly related to the German point of view. Afterwards, some implications and problems of TTIP are presented. Finally, the paper concludes the most important points of this agreement and involves future prospectives for the TTIP between the European Union and the United States. By reading this paper, the reader has the opportunity to form their own opinion on the TTIP based on the comprehensive assets and drawbacks which are submitted. This paper introduces the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, called TTIP. TTIP is a trade agreement between the United States and the European Union, which is currently being negotiated. The aim of this convention is to open up the markets on both sides. This includes eliminating tariffs and other trade barriers between the two unions, the United States and the European Union. Furthermore, restrictions for commercial services shall also be reduced, security of investment and the competitive equality shall be improved, and not least the access to public contracts shall be simplified at all levels of government. Therefore, the TTIP is a unique joint project which can obtain considerable growth and em-ployment effects (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Umwelt 2015). However, there is a lot of criticism and concerns regarding foreign trade between the European Union and the United States, but there are a lot of advantages for both countries as well. Some of the topics are highly controversial mainly due to differing standards and norms of both partners (Beck & Ohr 2014).

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the United States and the European Union. A discussion of its pros, cons and implications

Stefan Beck

Frank Klobes

society, and state (Streeck, 1999; Simonis, 1998). Interspersed between these most commonly named elements are the following: First, the high political integrating force of the German Model after WWII was based on the adoption and transformation of corporatist political structures from National Socialist Germany. Liberal capitalism was (re)introduced under political competition between Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, who eventually found common ground in the politically mediated compromise between capital and labor: “This compromise was negotiated and institutionalized at a time when the communist wing of the workers movement and the authoritarian voices of German capital – for various reasons – were excluded from political participation” (Streeck, 1999, p. 15; translation: SB). The partnership between firms and unions manifested itself in manifold institutional structures. Apart from the social partners’ autonomy in matters of wage policy, worker codetermination at plant level and in operations is regarded as one of the special achievements of the German Model and has contributed substantially to social peace. The political coordination forms of concerted action, round tables, as well as modernization and crisis cartels gave birth to a highly complex political decision-making structure which, based on a federalist setup, has rightly been called “negotiation state” (Esser, 1998, p. 123). Second, the material foundation of this “Social Democratic class compromise” (Buci-Glucksmann & Therborn, 1981) consisted in the Federal Republic’s – in the words of Göste Esping-Andersen – “conservative-liberal” form of welfare state.

Perspectives for the German Economic Model

Surviving Globalization?

Bob Jessop

Brigitte Young

The recent financial crisis exposed both a naïve faith in mathematical models to manage risk and a crude culture of greed that embraces risk. This book explores cultures of finance in sites such as corporate governance, hedge funds, central banks, the City of London and Wall Street, and small and medium enterprises. It uses different methods to explore these cultures and their interaction with different financial orders to improve our understanding of financial crisis dynamics. The introduction identifies types of cultural turn in studies of finance. Part I outlines relevant research methods, including comparison of national cultures viewed as independent variables, cultural political economy, and critical discourse and narrative policy analysis. Part II examines different institutional cultures of finance and the cult of entrepreneurship. Part III offers historical, comparative, and contemporary analyses of financial regimes and their significance for crisis dynamics. Part IV explores organizational cultures, modes of calculation, and financial practices and how they shape economic performance and guide crisis management. Part V considers crisis construals and responses in the European Union and China. This book’s great strength is its multi-faceted approach to cultures of finance. Contributors deploy the cultural turn creatively to enhance comparative and historical analysis of financial regimes, institutions, organizations, and practices as well as their roles in crisis generation, construal, and management. Developing different paradigms and methods and elaborating diverse case studies, the authors illustrate not only how and why ‘culture matters’ but also how its significance is shaped by different financial regimes and contexts.

Financial Cultures and Crisis Dynamics

This book asks the important question of whether public banks are a better alternative to profit-seeking private banks. Do public banks provide finance for development? Do they serve as stability anchors in financial markets? What kind of governance keeps public banks accountable to the public? Theoretically the book draws on the works of Minsky for the question on stability and on interpretative policy analysis for the issue of governance. It compares empirically three countries with significant public banks: Brazil, Germany, and India.

A Comparative Perspective

Public Banks in the Age of Financialization

Alexander Gallas

Frank Hoffer

Hansjörg Herr

Economic inequality has recently gained considerable academic attention. However, two important aspects of inequality have not been discussed systematically: its multidimensional nature and the question of what can be done to reverse it. This book offers insights from scholars representing the Global Labour University, which operates in Brazil, Germany, India, South Africa and the US. They analyse the various drivers of inequality, assess policy responses, and discuss counterstrategies. The main findings of this book are that rising levels of inequality cannot be addressed only with the standard policies responses, namely education, redistribution and ‘green growth’. In addition, the way markets currently function needs to be corrected. The chapters in this volume focus on specific fields of contemporary capitalism where important drivers of inequality are located, for example, the labour market; the financial system; the tax system; multi-national corporations; and gender relations. Other chapters discuss in detail where political opportunities for change lie. They critically assess existing countermeasures; the idea of a ‘green economy’ and its implications for inequality; and existing campaigns by trade unions and new social movements against inequality. In line with the global nature of the problem, this book contains case studies on countries both from the north and south with considerable economic and political weight. This book provides academics, political practitioners and civil society activists with a range of ideas on how to drive back inequality. It will be of interest to those who study political economy, development economy and labour economics.

Christoph Scherrer

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