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This chapter introduces the book by contextualizing it to the African context. It presents a brief discussion on corporate social responsibility in nine countries, namely Angola, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe in order to provide a comparative perspective. The general picture emerging from the review of literature on corporate social responsibility in Africa is that it is not widely practised, mainly because of weak legislation. The chapter then focuses on Botswana, providing the rationale for Botswana being the focus. While it is widely acclaimed as Africa’s economic “miracle”, it has, at the same time, high levels of poverty, inequality and unemployment and high rates of HIV/AIDS prevalence. This makes this the examination of the role of business in society in Botswana imperative.

The documented intentions of, as implied from the policy statements in the Parliament and other public occasions, and the policy initiatives taken by the Greek government that ratified the Maastricht Treaty demonstrate, in a nutshell, the following: The dangers to the Greek society in general, and in particular to the prospect of joining the EMU as an able and equal member, that stemmed from the extreme imbalances and inefficiencies introduced during the ’80s, were accurately assessed and a plan to address them was devised and quite consistently executed. This program aimed at addressing the problems at hand in the following ways: (a) with some tax increases in order to stabilize the public finances, that were on an clearly unsustainable path, (b) by placing the main burden on the fiscal adjustment process on cutting expenditure and stabilizing the costs of the social security system, with a reduction in the public sector wage bill and a reform of the social security system, (c) with a wide-ranging privatization program that included selling off of state owned enterprises, handing over the construction and operation of major infrastructure projects to the private sector, handing the management of utilities over to the private sector, cutting collectives off of state patronage, and eliminating unneeded public service entities and privatizing others. The latter part of the consolidation program was an integral part of a broader and conscious effort to unlock the growth potential of the country by reducing the stifling control of the state on innovative and growth-enhancing activities. Deregulation of markets, reduction of red tape and regulations that indirectly reduced market entry; the creation of new markets; and the facilitation of the activities of the productive sector, were to complement the growth-enhancing strategic retreat of the state from the economy, beside the above-mentioned flagship privatization strategies. Equally integral in the plan, both as far as the initial design was concerned, as derived by public policy statements, and as far as the execution was concerned, was an effort to strengthen the institutional capacity of budgetary control and enhance the efficiency of the public administration. Besides specific provisions, for example to require an assessment of the budgetary impact of any act, beyond laws, and to outlaw the printing of money to cover budget deficits, the main thrust of the effort was placed in an improvement of the human resource management in the public sector. Critical aspects of the latter were the re-introduction of managerial positions with clearly delineated responsibilities, accountability, job performance evaluation, linking promotion and pay with performance in the public sector, abolishing perks and benefits that were excessive, abolishing the ability to shirk and abuse office flagrantly, and limiting the ability of striking unions to completely ignore laws when implementing their initiatives. The design of the policies, and their implementation, were aiming to be within the spirit of what are now Articles 120 and 121 of the Treaty for the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), while driven by awareness that Europe had its own problems and that ultimately the Greek government had to address the problems of Greece.

Regulation can be seen generally referring to policies where the government acts as a referee to oversee market activity and the behavior of private actors in the economy. In recent years, the regulatory landscape has changed and many industry sectors have been the subject of regulatory reform. In this chapter, we analyze and discuss the government proposals and bills recently given to Finnish Parliament, where such expressions as “enabling” and “freedom to choose” are frequently repeated. This kind of rhetoric is generally associated with more descriptive and elastic regulation. The research method in this chapter is a strategic review of scholarship on proactive law. We first provide a conceptual overview of proactive law, proactive approaches to law, legal innovation and disruptive innovation. We then give examples of how proactive law can be applied to regulation, both public and private, in order to create innovative regulation strategies. In conclusion, we discuss the outcomes that proactive law approaches yield for legislative reforms and their applications, and finally, we consider how future research should expand the theory of proactive law to encapsulate proactive law into regulative practices.

Like other children’s products, toy guns, non-powder firearms, and youth firearms such as rimfire and .22 models have become increasingly commodified since the 1940s. This chapter explores the trends in praise and condemnation, from the post-World War II era, when toy guns supposedly taught masculine values, through subsequent declining public support, concern over gun violence, and increased governmental regulation, to a firearm “renaissance” in the early 2010s, which inspired deregulation and renewed cultural and commercial interest in firearms, including youth products. Current commodification strategies include increased commercial availability and deregulation of replica non-powder firearms, promoting realistic qualities in toy guns and fanciful or colorful patterns for working youth firearms, and constructing youth rifles as products that strengthen social relations, build character, promote adventure, convey heritage, and teach responsibility. A textual analysis of 2019 marketing materials depicts youth firearms as sources of rationality, knowledge, and fun. As toy guns and youth firearms become increasingly morally controversial leisure products, industry has attempted to downplay threats, decouple products from the horrors of school shootings, and construct these items as social “goods.”

Purpose: We seek the goal of formation of a systemic scientific vision of social entrepreneurship in the unity of its manifestations: as non-commercial and socially responsible business. Design/methodology/approach: Two research tasks are solved in order to reach the set goal. 1st task: developing a methodological approach to classification of companies in the process of building the social market economy and specifying the place in it and the criterion of social entrepreneurship. 2nd task: identifying the key source of social entrepreneurship’s development and determining the prospects of improving its state management. The research is based on the method of correlation analysis. Findings: As the economic analysis shows, development of social entrepreneurship requires the increase of the level of economic freedom. Even in countries with the high level of economic freedom it is insufficiently high for development of social entrepreneurship and, thus, further deregulation for the purpose of building the social market economy is recommended. Originality/value: We form a systemic scientific vision of social entrepreneurship in the unity of its manifestations: as non-commercial and socially responsible business. A new classification of subjects of entrepreneurship by the criterion of their contribution to creation of the social market economy is developed; according to it, we offer criteria of assigning business structures to various subjects of entrepreneurship and distinguish commercial entrepreneurship, provisionally social entrepreneurship, and social entrepreneurship.

Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it, but much the same can be said of those who fail to prepare for the future. In this chapter, both the long and short view of the future are taken by our panel of contributors: short term outlooks often revolve around the media titans of today—GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook. Amazon, Microsoft), which according to Benhamou, cannot be ignored. Long term outlooks include both positivity—Curien—and pessimism, via Bernisson. Of course, these forecasting exercises will only meet reality halfway. The future is as unpredictable as the past is unbelievable.

The financial crash that was in full force in the Fall of 2008 triggered the Great Recession. This chapter explores the deeper reasons behind the crisis. Three in particular are noted: the uncritical promotion of homeownership; the enthronement of finance capitalism in a time of global deregulation; and regulatory capture. The crisis was years in the making as the deregulation of the financial system introduced after the Great Depression led to a relentless financialization of the US economy that saw mortgages as just one financial product. And in a classic example of moral hazard, the costs of the risky behavior of financial institutions was paid by the federal government and the US taxpayer.

Two major developments have deeply affected the European Economic Community (EEC) in the 1980s: the global move toward deregulation, which is in part the result of Thatcher and Reagan’s policies, and the breakdown of the Soviet Empire in 1989. I will examine how deregulation established itself as a factor of European integration, and identify the turning points in the development of the EEC that are now affecting the current functioning of the EU. By pointing out what still needs to be improved on convergence in Single Market regulations and economic policy, as well as in the European Monetary Union (EMU) solidarity mechanisms, I hope to provide some insights on how to avoid frictions among member states, as they often ultimately stem from different interpretations of the EU’s “common view.”

This chapter draws general conclusions about what the five events reveal about the structural weaknesses of the contemporary United States. They revealed: a commitment to Empire, a discounting of risks and the deregulation of oversight of risky enterprises, the unchallenged metanarratives of neoliberalism, magical thinking, a health system geared for profit, and the lack of a strong and resilient social safety net.

Neoliberalism is the dominant ideology of globalization. It is a conglomerate of ideas focused on promoting the free market such as competition, privatization, deregulation, reduction of public expenditure, tax reform, and protection of property rights. According to such an ideology globalization is basically liberalization and will foster individual liberty and human well-being when global markets are free.

This chapter uses the framework of institutional change outlined in the previous chapter and applies it to a case study of US labor institutions. Firstly, it surveys US labor institutions in their formal, informal, and avoidable iterations. In terms of formal institutions, the traditional orientation of the USA was softened in the 1930s through the labor components of the New Deal although many of these rights have been reduced in subsequent decades. In terms of informal institutions, the collective bargaining structure is decentralized and both bargaining coverage and union density, never high to begin with, are consistently dropping. In terms of avoidable institutions, it seems that many employers are able to habitually ignore even the modest regulation in place. Also, a potential result is a very high-income inequality, with no strong union presence to cause similar wages. Secondly, this chapter examines the possible drivers of change. Institutional change in the case of the US labor institutions 1980–2019 seems to point to a continued deregulation of an already relatively deregulated system. This chapter argues for the role that the systemic cycle and the extensive developmental strategy played in causing this type of stable change alongside path dependence.

“A ‘Vast Wasteland’: American Media in the 1980s” ties the panic to the success and rapid proliferation of infotainment during the decade. It argues that cases of satanic ritual abuse were particularly suited to the presentation of tabloid material on television. When coupled with its live broadcasts and charismatic hosts, the genre’s penchant for sensationalism, violence, intimate situations, anecdotal evidence, voyeurism, and the occult both catalyzed and validated the panic, which in turn helped legitimate the growing number of tabloid programs. The chapter also ties the panic to the decade’s economic policies and technological developments. Infotainment was one of several commercial entertainment products that became available to consumers amid the era’s climate of deregulation and innovation.

The eve of the 2020s finds European cities in a process of shifting citizens’ mobility preferences towards more sustainable transport means. Cycling is an emerging alternative to motorised modes, particularly due to its lower operating cost and its contribution to healthier lifestyles and containment of climate deregulation from transport sector. Towards establishing cycling as a commuting mode and decreasing private car use, city authorities are increasingly investing in delivering integrated cycling route networks, pro-cycling policies and related services. However, poor and inadequate network design may act as a deterrent to cycling, due to safety, accessibility or quality concerns. To address this, the Greek Ministry of Transport in 2016 issued a set of technical guidelines for cycling network infrastructures in order to standardize their design process. In response to these new guidelines, this paper proposes a methodology for the assessment of existing cycling infrastructure through the utilization of a structured checklist. This checklist considers critical components of bicycle networks, such as their signage, width, inclinations, lighting, intersections, types of separation and interface with other modes and examines them against the minimum requirements described in national standards. The methodology was piloted in the existing cycling networks of Athens and Trikala, Greece. Results indicated certain design flaws and the attributes that did not comply with national standards. The proposed methodology could assist planning authorities into monitoring the quality of cycling infrastructure in Greek cities and indicating the aspects that do not meet the national set thresholds along with highlighting the appropriate interventions.

Purpose: The authors aim is to study the factors of the region’s labour market development in the digital economy (on the example of the regions of the North Caucasus Federal District of the Russian Federation) and to develop tools for their management in order to optimize transformations. Design/Methodology/Approach: The authors use one of the most common methods of econometrics—regression analysis. To test the hypotheses, regression curves are drawn that automatically form paired linear regression models and calculate correlation coefficients. Findings: Three factors have been identified for the development of the region’s labour market in the digital economy: the increase in the level of education in the “knowledge economy”, the growth of innovative activity of entrepreneurship and the computerization of entrepreneurship. It has been revealed that, although structural transformations of the labour market are indeed taking place in the regions of the North Caucasus Federal District of the Russian Federation in 2018, they contradict the existing ideas. Originality/Value: It has been proved that in the digital economy, instead of the expected crisis of the labour market (rising unemployment and social tension), favourable conditions and new opportunities are being created to balance the market and establish social justice in it (preventing discrimination against employees in terms of age and level of education). However, in the case of market self-regulation (deregulation), the natural influence of these factors is weak. Therefore, the state management of the identified factors of the development of the regional labour market in the digital economy should be aimed at strengthening (rather than deterring, as originally assumed) their positive impact on the market—for this purpose, appropriate management tools have been proposed.

Building on what has been said in Chapters 2 and 3, this chapter focuses on the developments in terms of labour market and welfare regulation at a national level in three countries: Spain, France and Sweden. This allows us to reconstruct the background against which the local case studies developed in Chapters 5 and 6 can be placed. The focus on three national cases helps us to understand the national socio-economic context in which the processes of local interpretation of active inclusion policy paradigm take place. As we will see, while in Spain active inclusion has advanced in a framework of labour market flexibilization and deregulation of employment protection, in France and Sweden—although in a different way in each case—it found welfare systems characterized by a long-standing tradition of social inclusion policies.

This paper gives a comprehensive treatise on the recent trend of distributed generation (DG) integration and control. The recent deregulation of electrical market and high penetration of Renewable energy sources (RES) has presented with a scenario of generation being at the distribution end which was beyond imagination. The paper provides an insight of various problem caused by such scenario. It also discusses the various control strategies presented in the recent years to overcome such problems.

First section of this chapter has a discussion with narrative case material offered on deregulation and its free market “entrepreneurial” expression, execution and effects ranging from corruption to inept implementation, leading to eventual but unwilling demise. Second, outsourcing and its discontents, ranging from employee suicide, toxic pollution and collusive boundary blurring, are anatomized and found wanting because of entrepreneurial “insouciance” (meaning carefree disregard for normal rules of health, safety and human dignity). Finally, globalization—through its reliance on “lawless” entrepreneurial practices in global supply chains is scrutinized. The second half of the chapter is exercised by entrepreneurship insouciance, or even “imperiousness”; what is wrong with it and why entrepreneurs are voting with their feet. Brief discussion and conclusions follow.

The banking system in the Western world is stable during the Glass-Steagall period, from 1935 until the beginning of the “great recession”. Until the implementation of the Act, there are periodic banking crises in the US, followed by depressions. After 1935 there is no major banking crisis or depression until 2008. In the late twentieth century, investment bankers are itching to lay their hands on the liquidity in boring commercial banks. They convince the economists and politicians that liberalisation will create benefits for the economy. Economists get convinced despite lacking theoretical ground for such an expectation. Facing consensus of “industry and academy”, politicians then took a deep breath and jump. Later it is easy to blame supervisors for the consequences.

Even though neo-liberals oppose public programs and services designed to achieve the common good on the basis that they violate freedom, they fully endorse the partnership that has emerged between corporations and governments, which overwhelmingly serves the private interests of the former at the expenses of the masses. Corporations invest vast sums of money and expend great efforts to lobby for deregulation, and undermine various state agencies tasked with monitoring and enforcing regulations intended to protect the public good, including those pertaining to workers’ rights, workplace safety, health codes, environmental protection, and consumer rights. This chapter argues that states no longer exist to protect the welfare of their citizens; rather, their main priority has become safeguarding the welfare of the corporate world. It emphasizes that, since the rise of neo-liberalism, corporations have amassed unprecedented levels of power, freedom and influence, which has caused tremendous damage to the environment, to the extent that the existence of life on earth is threatened.

For the most part, the world of work is missing from feature film representation. Films are not made about librarians, plumbers and quantity surveyors, or if they are, their work is tangential to what they do or signify in their respective films. Even cowboys are rarely seen with cows. The only work that is routinely explored is that of cops/detectives, doctors and lawyers—the staples of television serial drama. The pursuit of business goals, the designing, making and selling of products, constitutes daily experience for many if not most on this planet, yet this area of life remains seriously under-represented. This presentation looks at the instances of doing business that do make it into film culture and the kinds of statement films make about commercial enterprise. It will mostly represent the American scene, because for every Il Postino in Europe delivering letters, there are 10 postmen in America, perhaps knocking twice, but rarely delivering them. The broad movement of film representation, I will argue, is to move trade from concerns about the soul of man in commerce and corporate life towards the realization (or imposition?) that business is near allied to crime. In general terms, it is the change from Death of a Salesman (1949) to Glengarry Glen Ross (1983), when a man who had to work himself to death to turn a buck finds himself having to screw workmates and customers alike in order to survive. In addition, the pressures of work of the little guy (I will briefly inspect the humbler world of salesmanship and marketing, two activities which have taken on a higher profile since the mid twentieth century) have largely given place to the unbridled opportunism of Reaganomics and deregulation in high finance. The general discontents associated with the financial crises of the 1980s and 2000s have created their very own film genre, the corporate scam exposure movie, as well as a number of important feature-length documentary films.

This chapter explores Jamaica’s forays into economic policy independence and the initiatives used to strengthen these efforts in the 1990s. Jamaica deepened deregulation and liberalization with deleterious effects due to policy and past failures, resulting in an enormous debt that haunted the country into the next millennium. These deleterious effects were heavily influenced by PNP policy reversals of the 1970s in the pursuit of social justice and equity that had generated devastating economic results. Policy independence was achieved, but the nation struggled with the management of economic policy and structural reforms that were supposed to boost development and the production of more competitive goods and services.

Cities are currently the primary source of climate change. Although they cover less than 2% of the earth’s surface, urban areas account for 50% of the world’s population, between 60 and 80% of energy consumption, and generate 70% of the human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, climate deregulation is affecting cities of all sizes, and its impact is expected to worsen. The chapter will highlight how local leaders have been addressing these threats by starting broad innovation, engagement, and advocacy campaigns and creating multiple, often overlapping networks of cities. As will be described, this has facilitated the introduction of concrete measures, often enjoying the support and praise of numerous NGOs, nations, and international organizations. Finally, the chapter will discuss the possible evolution of the field as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The chapter deals with the outsourcing of public services in two British public administrations—a municipality and an NHS foundation trust—and its consequences for working conditions, employment relations institutions and the trade unions. For each case, the analysis sheds light on three analytical dimensions: the main drivers of outsourcing; the consequences for terms and conditions of employment and collective bargaining; and the strategies that trade unions implemented in the workplace in response to these measures. The strong ideological belief in the superiority of market competition for the provision of public services through a hollowing out of the role of the state has led to a series of legislative interventions promoting outsourcing practices since the 1980s. Outsourcing resulted in particularly detrimental consequences for working conditions and to an overall commodification of labour (including massive redundancy procedures, fragmentation and deterioration of terms and conditions of employment) and cut into contractual arrangements. Moreover, following outsourcing, employers’ unilateral definition of working conditions substituted the collective regulation of labour. The trade unions responded to such challenges with a defensive strategy oriented towards opposing marketisation of public services and preserving public employment, but it turned to be weak and ineffective.

The chapter concerns “The Narrative of the Upcoming of the Regulatory State.” The internationally renowned Italian Professor Giandomenico Majone offered under the heading of “The Rise of the Regulatory State in Europe” a succinct answer to this: “Privatization and deregulation have created the conditions for the rise of the regulatory state to replace the dirigiste state of the past.” Importantly, he continues to explain: “Reliance on regulation—rather than public ownership, planning or centralized administration—characterizes the methods of the regulatory state.” This concept, outlined in the chapter, is related to the administrative reforms of government structures in the Scandinavian countries. These welfare states are, historically, fundamentally based on public ownership, planning, and centralized administration, all the five countries having been politically conducted by the steady ruling of social democratic governments. The regulatory state order in place has, to some extent, generated welfare state disorder.

The Adam Smith Institute (ASI) is a small free-market think tank, mostly funded by private donations, that played a crucial role in the rise of neoliberal thought in Britain in the 1970–1980s. However, come 2008, they found that many of their ideas were increasingly challenged and believed to have caused the crisis by the left. They responded by mounting a spirited defence of deregulation, blaming the state, regulation, and central banks for the crash. As David Cameron’s austerity programme took hold, the ASI defended its implementation, if arguing it did not go far enough. In tandem, they sought to change their image as an overly-ideological organisation and their relatively marginal position in an ever more crowded centre-right. To achieve that, they began advocating for ‘Bleeding-heart Libertarianism’: the idea that free markets should be defended not for a priori reasons, but because they provide the greatest welfare for all.

This chapter tells the story of office-to-residential change of use in Reading. A similar format is taken to the previous English case study chapters in terms of the research approach and coverage. The chapter highlights the particular key concerns seen in Reading, particularly the loss of affordable housing. These issues surrounding the wider social contribution made from development are highlighted throughout the chapter and through its focus on the particular ways that central government driven deregulation has had impacts in Reading.

This chapter considers the wider intellectual context for the government making office-to-residential change of use permitted development in England. Academic theories around neoliberalism are discussed, explaining the usual understanding of ‘deregulation’ as a key component of neoliberalism, but also considering some critique of this in terms of work on regulatory capitalism and the more complex relationships between modernisation, the contemporary state and the private sector. Previous studies from other sectors on the implications of deregulation (there being surprisingly little work directly on this and planning) are briefly outlined, for example work demonstrating the inadequacy of voluntary approaches to regulation to protect the natural environment.

This chapter brings together the findings of the book and provides brief answers to the research questions. It posits that in the areas of EU regulation studied in the book policymakers have limited capacity to effectively pose a regulatory threat. Rather, it is the experts, innovators and operators posing a challenge to regulation. There is an eminent risk for regulators to reward gatekeeping (expert), protect market power (innovator) and amplify autonomy (operator). Further, the industry case studies and the analysis of Brexit back up the argument that corporations do not simply strive for deregulation, but for power in regulation. The book concludes by summarising the contributions made to existing literature and identifies perspectives for both future developments in relevant policy fields and future research.

This concluding chapter sums up our findings in relation to the deregulation of the planning control of office-to-residential change of use in England. Our evidence suggests that government’s original impact assessment of the policy in 2013 was flawed, and permitted development (PD) is leading to the development of very low-quality housing, sometimes in poor locations, and which does not contribute towards the costs of associated social, physical and green infrastructure to support the development. Instead, the policy is acting as a ‘fiscal giveaway’ from the state to private developers and landowners. The necessity of the deregulatory approach is also called into question, drawing on our evidence from Scotland and the Netherlands. This leads us to suggest that planning reform in England in future should take a more positive approach, which helps deliver the housing needed and making sustainable use of vacant buildings whilst actually helping to create sustainable communities rather than the negative deregulatory approach which has dominated in recent years.

This chapter considers the findings specifically related to our Glasgow (Scotland) and Rotterdam (The Netherlands) case studies. The context of both is considered in terms of their office markets, social-economic trends and planning contexts. The way office-to-residential change of use is governed in both is explained. For Glasgow, interviews with a range of local stakeholders to gather their views on office-to-residential permitted development (PD) are summarised. Case study buildings are overviewed, and the differences seen when planning regulation apply suggested. For Rotterdam, there is a discussion about residential quality and an overall outline of the approach to governing the issue taken in the Netherlands. The way there has been less emphasis on deregulation and more of a steering role for the national and local state there is explained. The chapter concludes on the positive features of such alternative approaches to governing office-to-residential conversion, questioning the necessity of the deregulation seen in England.

The Washington Consensus is a set of ten policy prescriptions promoted by institutions based in Washington, DC—primarily, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the US Treasury. The Consensus is associated with neoliberal policies in general and the free-market doctrine that encourages a diminishing role for the government in economic activity. The policy prescriptions (the ten commandments) include fiscal policy discipline, redirection of public spending, tax reform, market-determined interest rates, maintaining “competitive” exchange rates, trade liberalisation, liberalisation of inward foreign direct investment (FDI), privatisation of state enterprises, deregulation and legal security for property rights. It is demonstrated that the Washington preachers themselves do not abide by the ten commandments and that the commandments are imposed on developing countries for the benefit of multinationals.

The author presents various explanatory modalities to be found among scholars’ accounts of the Spanish crisis that support the vision of the crisis as a possibility. The revision of the literature led him to establish a classification in which three characteristics stand out. On the one hand, many explanations do not identify the causal factors. On the other, it is noted that they are limited to a descriptive list of the set of accumulated imbalances during the period of economic growth. Besides, the author shows that a large part of orthodox diagnoses of the crisis focus on the decisions, incentives and subjective issues associated with agents and economic policy. Finally, the chapter addresses the guidelines of economic policy in Spain and the implications of the European Central Bank intervention during the crisis.

The social state, an institutional formula that has so far successfully managed to combine freedoms, rule of law and economic and social development, is exposed to criticism. Since the 1970s, and even more so after the economic crisis of 2008, the capacity of the social model has been called into question by arguing that social states discourage investment and economic development (given the costs of public services) and disincentive work (through the universalisation of social benefits). This ideological atmosphere is reflected in the constant criticism of normative interventions in the form of laws and decrees. There is too much legislation—hence the topic of legislative inflation—and the quality of legislation is poor, because laws are neither effective (they do not achieve the social goals they were assigned by governments and parliaments) nor efficient (because their costs are greater than the benefits they generate). This is where the insistent demands of privatisation and deregulation (in a broad sense) originate. The defence of our social states requires us to respond to such criticisms by adopting measures that improve the regulatory process as a whole.

This chapter tells the story of office-to-residential change of use in Leicester. This chapter considers the specific issues seen in Leicester, contrasting the positive reuse of redundant/vacant office space with concerns over residential quality and an overall lowering of standards (particularly in the private rental sector [PRS]). These issues surrounding the quality of housing delivered and their wider impacts for the local economy will be highlighted throughout the chapter. The focus is the particular ways that central government-driven deregulation has had impacts in Leicester.

This chapter tells the story of office-to-residential change of use in Croydon. A similar approach is taken to Camden in terms of what the chapter covers; however, some of the impacts in this place are different. The chapter highlights the issues seen in Croydon, particularly the issues of residential quality and the overall impact on local services from the large number of units delivered. These issues surrounding the development of what might have been called (by some research interviewees) ‘slums of the future’ will be highlighted throughout the chapter through its focus on the particular ways that central government-driven deregulation has had impacts in Croydon and threaten the otherwise positive effort to regenerate the town which the local authority and partners have been driving.

From its origins, German co-operative banking has grown to form one of the three main pillars of the modern German banking system. Today it comprises 18.5 million members and is one of the three largest banking groups in Germany. Grouped into a national financial network—BVR (Bundesverband der deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken)—while still retaining their independence, German co-operative banks continue to demonstrate principles of solidarity enshrined in their original mission and a focus on domestic and SME markets despite diversification opportunities arising from deregulation. This chapter examines the success of this hybrid model in comparison with domestic commercial rivals. Overall, the co-operative banking network and its apex have proved that they are able to develop higher performances than those of the first two German shareholder-oriented groups, recording economic and patrimonial results and distinct operational characteristics over time. The sole network of German CBs has shown to have a noteworthy strategic value that persists over time. The worsening of the average profitability and efficiency of co-operative banks in the last period contributes to supporting the ongoing intra-sector aggregation process.

The ideal model does not exist, and the State identity evolves. The SBM was so far adequate and the SBM Plus was built here so it fulfils most of the four qualitative criteria used in this evaluation. It is attractive, feasible, credible and remediable. This is not just another study advocating hybrid models as a convenient solution for countries searching for excuses because further deregulation is challenging technically and politically. Trade-offs have to be made between pragmatism and theory. Limited supply leaves the room open for market manipulation, if that market is weakly regulated. Its capital intensity calls for the creation of mechanisms to increase investors’ confidence (sovereign guarantees, long-term commitments, take-or-pay clauses) with the State as the backbone of these mechanisms. But governments would opt for the least complex capacity mechanism: direct intervention. Public authorities would then remain involved in the electricity sector, particularly in immature, rapidly growing markets.

Chapter 7 continues to focus on the immediate context of the conflict over the 2012 labour market reform by investigating widespread interventions in the function of social reproduction—especially labour market reforms—as some among the key crisis management measures adopted both Europe-wide and in the specific Italian case. Main legacies for the observed conflict concern the extension of short-time work and the deregulation of collective bargaining as the key priorities in Berlusconi’s crisis management as well as the impact of Monti’s Save Italy decree on Italy’s function of social reproduction. Eventually, the analysis sheds light on key evidence supporting the initial assumption of an Italian crisis of crisis management as the overarching proximate scenario against which to approach the following actor-process analysis.

This chapter seeks to approach neoliberalism focusing less on ideology than on practices and their effects. Neoliberalism is linked to the deregulation processes of companies as production institutions (internal labour market, stable work, etc.) and associated to flexibility and precariousness. Deregulation in neoliberalism is to be considered as a managerial strategy and one of its main instruments is outsourcing. After discussing the financial background of capitalism in the 1980s, the chapter analyses neoliberalism from the point of view of its new policies of organization and structure which, through blurring boundaries reshuffle the conditions of workers’ subjection, are responsible for corporations’ transformation. The confluence of capital and new information and communication technologies, through outsourcing, has created a new regime of domination which ties distance control and disciplinary power as a major mode of subjection. Segmented processes of production have produced a time-space rupture of labour solidarities and concealed social conditions in every step of the whole production process. But subcontracting has also permitted new forms of control through which lead companies impose their authority on the subcontractor’s staff. The remote connection of the NICT, its ability to supervise “every moment in an open space”, is largely associated with the force of prescription and processes of labour standards. Some sociologists and philosophers have insisted on the constructivist project of neoliberalism; this chapter shows that it is installing a penitentiary climate at the threshold of the twenty-first century.

With over 1.3 billion people, India is the world’s second most populous country. Nonetheless, its economy struggles to compete with those of smaller Western European nations like France, Germany, and the UK, all of which benefit from more stable political situations and greater freedom. Although India’s economy ranks 130 in the Index, the country has made significant progress in an initiative toward liberalization and deregulation (see Table 6.1). Consider that in 1995, India’s economic freedom score was only 45.1, which fell into the Index’s “repressed” category. Nonetheless, the nation continues to be undermined by corruption, overregulation, irresponsible spending, and a lack of commitment to the rule of law (Miller et al. 2018).

In this chapter, Lust presents the main argument that will be developed throughout this book. The author argues that the current weakness of the socialist Left and the hegemony of neoliberalism in Peruvian society since the 1990s is principally caused by the socialist Left’s inability to politically and organizationally respond to the erosion of its traditional political bases, the result, in the last instance, of the changes in its traditional social bases, the accumulation of economic crises in the 1980s and the deregulation of the labor market in the 1990s. In addition to providing a general overview of the neoliberal program implemented in Peru under Fujimori (1990–2000), Lust also characterizes the main features of the political programs implemented by Fujimori’s successors Toledo, Garcia, and Humala.

Marrakech is an example of the urban processes currently taking place as well in Morocco as in many cities of the world: gentrification, socio-economic polarization, deregulation in housing market or tourism activities. The recent economic crises have led to a North–South migration of European citizens looking for new opportunities in Marrakech. These immigrants contribute to the development of new socio-economic and artistic activities and their presence has an important impact on the transformation of the city. Indeed, both the Medina and Gueliz are evolving in response to these new actions, modifying the urban dynamic as well as the image of the Red City.

This chapter examines how the production of sports consumer culture integrates workers in a range of sectors, labour regimes and nation-states within an international division of labour. The labour force in the Global South absorbed within global production networks of sports goods represents a minority of formal sector workers in a sea of informal sector workers. While sports labour has gained more mobility within sports labour markets owing to deregulation, this has accompanied insecurity as well as an intensification of work. The hyper-competitive sports culture demanding “performance enhancement” reinforces the self-exploitation of workers depicting “cyborgs on steroids”. The ideology of enterprising flexible workers, encouraging migrant labour, fosters authoritarian labour regimes that reproduce able-bodied masculine sports cultures, while restraining citizenship rights and national sovereignty.

Since the new millennium, the electronic communication media environment has significantly changed. In line with this global trend, the Korean government enacted the Broadcasting Act in 2000 and the Newspaper Act in 2005 to integrate separate laws and to promote media convergence. The media industry became more diversified through deregulation of media ownership and operation. At the same time, the progressive government enhanced public interest in media and improved citizens’ interest and welfare. As the involvement of civil society in the media increased and the Internet spread, civil society, including labour unions and professional media organizations, became more involved in the media policy decision-making process. In particular, media access and media literacy were institutionalized. The previous government-centred media policy was transformed into a multi-stakeholder-centred policy in consultation with civil society and private organizations.

Capping the number of licenses and granting exclusive right to street hailing passengers, the New York City (NYC) medallion system manipulated the demand and supply of taxicab services and created a medallion market. The lasting system turned the right to operate taxis in NYC into a private property of scarcity and an investment vehicle with disguised risks. Integrating data published by the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), this research identified four phases of the medallion market and argued that (1) the market collapsed because technology and ride-sharing economy have materially weakened the assumptions underlying the market; (2) Yellow Cab is fighting a lost battle against players of ride-sharing economy; and (3) the deregulation of the NYC taxicab industry will adapt and continue despite its adverse impact on the medallion interest groups.

After noting the significant change in US aviation policy brought about by President Carter’s deregulation of the US airline industry, this chapter chronicles the step-by-step liberalisation of Bermuda 2 under successive waves of negotiation between 1977 and 1988, dealing with one aspect of the market after another—tariffs, passenger charters, cargo charters, the number of US gateways offering transatlantic services, and capacity control. The two sides manage the downturn in demand associated with the recession of 1981–1982 without reversing the trend towards greater liberalisation, but it takes a robust intervention from Prime Minister Thatcher to persuade President Reagan to terminate an anti-trust investigation by the Department of Justice into the circumstances surrounding the collapse of Laker Airways. Time also has to be invested in the special features of the US-Caribbean market, a surprising sub-plot entailing the protection of Cayman Airways.

This section evaluates the roles of private players in the subsidy reform scheme. The attractions in the thriving Nigerian oil business motivates individuals, local and foreign investors to scramble for participation amid a struggle to influence decisions in the industry. The pressures generated by these actors to maximize their personal and businesses interests have led to the attempts to embrace deregulation and remove subsidies on all petroleum products. The deregulation agenda is aligned with other neo-liberal policies promoted by agencies of global capital, especially the MNCs, to exploit the downstream oil industry. Both local and foreign MNCs display similar characteristics in their approach to the oil business and subsidy arrangement. Civil society organization stand in opposition to the MNCs and the government’s reform initiatives, claiming to act in the interest of the masses.

This chapter explores spatial manifestations of the rise of neoliberal globalization, one of the contributing factors to the 2008 financial crisis, in Ray Loriga’s dystopian novel Tokio ya no nos quiere (Tokyo Doesn’t Love Us Anymore) (1999). It focuses in particular on representations of “non-places” and landscapes of disorder, deregulation, waste, and excess. The protagonist’s peripatetic wanderings through these assorted landscapes reflect the impact of his addiction to a memory-erasing drug, as well as the dystopian nature of hyper-consumerist societies. Through the spatial constructions in his novel, Loriga emphasizes how the protagonist’s freedom to consume whatever he pleases does not lead to individual autonomy, but rather lays the foundation for the walls of his own confinement.

This chapter locates the lives of young people in the context of neoliberalism and the fall-out for young people in terms of education, employment and careers. A central argument is that individual biographies can only be properly comprehended in the context of the profoundly damaging impact of neoliberal policies: privatisation, deregulation, competition, choice, individualism and commodification. The chapter examines how these wider structural forces are played out in the lives of the participants around three main themes: understanding the complexity of the labour market going beyond menial, piece-rate and poorly paid jobs moving beyond the self-fulfilling prophecy of streaming.

That Nigeria was a corrupt society was no longer ‘news’, the problematic has been the complicity of public officials, its spill-over and destructive effects on state, society and the oil economy. Therefore, the endemic nature of corruption constituted a core conversation on the effective management of the sector. Corruption has hindered Nigeria’s capacity to transform its oil wealth to good governance and ensure the vibrancy of the downstream oil industry. This protracted crisis, occasioned by persistent fuel price increase under the pretext of deregulation or subsidy reform has engendered contradictions that deepened impoverishment of the masses. Corruption was at the root of the mismanagement, waste, institutional weaknesses and failures to restore stability and efficiency to the oil sector. Oil sector reform under the prevalent arrangement constitutes a mechanism for the devolution of corruption in Nigeria.