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Democracy is not merely a political and legal system; it depends on social and economic commitments as well.
Democracy is not only realized through elections; it requires civic participation through permanent dialogue. This volume addresses this central, yet often overlooked, issue in a series of essays by renowned scholars from Europe and the United States, reviving a concept that dates back to the foundation of the European Union: social dialogue as a fundamental part of the construction of the union.
Having neglected the social dimensions of its institutions, the European Union is currently in deep crisis. European democracy is confronted with a radical new situation and new definitions of work and family, as well as of growth and economic achievement, must be embedded in European public policy.
The contributors to this book identify social and civil dialogue as key institutional processes that will help overcome the current crisis. Civic participation can no longer be limited to representative institutions as we know them; a new combination of deliberation, bargaining and social experimentation is required. This book maps out the complexity of this vital issue and its implications for the future of the European democratic project.
List of contents
Contents: Jean De Munck/Claude Didry/Isabelle Ferreras/Annette Jobert: Introduction - Ton Korver/Günther Schmid: Enhancing Transition Capacities and Sustainable Transitions - Dominique Méda: New Wealth Indicators. The Contribution of Social and Civil Dialogue - Joel Rogers: Productive Democracy - Paul Marginson: The Challenges of Multi-level Governance. The Case of European Social Dialogue - Simon Deakin/Aristea Koukiadaki: Social Dialogue in the UK. Moving beyond the Single Channel of Representation? - Konstantinos Papadakis: Global Framework Agreements. Bridging Social Dialogue and Civil Dialogue? - Jean De Munck/Isabelle Ferreras: The Democratic Exchange, as the Combination of Deliberation, Bargaining, and Experimentation - Claude Didry/Annette Jobert: Deliberation. A New Dimension in European Industrial Relations - Serafino Negrelli: Remarks on Deliberative Democracy, Social, and Civil Dialogue - Lucio Baccaro: Is Civil Dialogue Deliberative? - Lowell Turner: Unions, Civil Society, and the Renewal of Social Dialogue in the United States - Béla Galgóczi/Philippe Pochet: How Trade Unions Cope with the Challenge of the Green Transformation in Europe? - Jean De Munck/Claude Didry/Isabelle Ferreras/Annette Jobert: Afterword.
About the author
Jean De Munck, professor at the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) and member of its CriDIS research center, is a specialist of the critical sociology of norms.
Claude Didry, tenured researcher at the CNRS (France) and director of the IDHE research center, is a sociologist with a particular interest in work institutions.
Isabelle Ferreras, tenured researcher at the FNRS (Belgium), professor at the Catholic University of Louvain and member of its CriDIS research center, is a sociologist who studies the evolution of productive relations in the context of the service-based society.
Annette Jobert, tenured researcher at the CNRS (France) and member of the IDHE research center, specializes in European and French industrial relations.
