How did the economic crisis impact social capital in European societies? The empirical studies conducted so far provide contradictory conclusions about the strength and direction of its influence. We argue that to better understand the effects of the economic crisis on social capital (social trust, formal and informal networks) it is crucial to examine both its impact on people's economic situation and the way it reshaped the relationship between individuals and political institutions and altered key political factors (political trust, the welfare state, political activism). Our analysis of European Social Survey data between 2006 and 2012 shows that changes in social trust were smaller than in formal and informal social networks. It also confirms that political factors played an important mediating role in producing these changes: changes in social trust and formal networks can especially be explained by the impact of the political factors, while variations in informal networks are mainly due to the changing economy. Moreover, the analyses show that while the economic crisis generally lowered social capital, some mechanisms such as a sense of togetherness and political activism, enhanced social capital.
COBISS.SI-ID: 16476419
Rise of populist and right-wing tendencies in Eastern Europe has been linked to people’s increasing dissatisfaction with the economy and growing inequality. Using Life in Transition Survey, we examine East Europeans’ attitudes on these economic issues. In contrast to views that the 2008 economic crisis prompted dissatisfaction, we find that even before the crisis, East Europeans were not convinced that their economic situation was better at that point than in 1989. Our findings suggest that economic discontent in Eastern Europe has been increasing over decades, and is especially pronounced among the poor and minorities, indicating their increasing social exclusion.
COBISS.SI-ID: 513052017
After the financial crisis of 2008, the role of state ownership underwent important transformation. Before the crisis the approach toward state ownership was characterized by the attempt to consistently separate the state from state-owned enterprises. In recent years the strategic aspect of state property has been strengthened with a more active role of the state. The changing balance of power in the global economy has led to the recognition that the neoliberal creed of corporate governance, which emphasizes the maximization of shareholder value, can no longer guarantee the competitiveness of companies and national economies. What is needed is a stewardship model of corporate governance that allows for a higher level of mobilization of key resources needed for the long-term development of companies and economies. The shareholder value and stewardship model of corporate governance are based on the 150-year-old debate about the nature of the corporation that is briefly outlined in the article. It shows that in the history of a modern corporation, the shareholder value model was dominant only twice, each time in times of high growth and unrestricted concentration of ownership, which, in turn, ended with a deep economic crisis. That is why the stewardship model of governance, which the President Macron calls the Capitalism of Progress, should be at the forefront now. In the second part of the article, we analyze the Slovenian model of corporate governance of state owned enterprises, and show that it is unequivocally built around the principle of shareholder value. Slovenian Sovereign Holding, which carries out the corporate governance of SOEs, should transform itself by modeling itself on the Singapore’s Temasek, which would require to replace the current principle of shareholder value with a stewardship principle and would further require a complete overhaul of the legal framework and strategic documents relating to the corporate governance of SOEs.
COBISS.SI-ID: 36119901
The book presents a fresh view on state ownership. Until the breakout of the financial crisis of 2008, the prevailing attitude toward state ownership has been mostly negative due to the widespread belief that the state provides poor management for the assets it owns. The crisis has demonstrated that the assumed advantages of private sector management can not be taken for granted which led to the emergence of increasingly positive attitudes toward state ownership, the idea that is aptly summarized in the title of this book: The State as a Good Manager. The contributing authors analyze the changes in corporate governance of slovenian corporations and banks in the past decade providing the analysis from a legal, economic and sociological perspectives. The result is a rounded analysis of legal framework, regulatory institutions and corporate governance in corporations and banks in Slovenia.
COBISS.SI-ID: 299379456
Reforms spreading throughout Europe have brought different streams that have reorganised the structures of local authorities. The impact of reform has been especially strong on local political leadership, which is the key element in the functioning of local authorities. According to POLLEADER typology, Slovenia belongs in the Central East European group of countries with executive mayors, but our analysis shows that during the reforms several elements deriving from Southern European local government traditions were introduced into the Slovenian local self-government system. In Slovenia, the Continental European Napoleonic administrative tradition persists, in which mayors have significant influence and control over the municipal administration and are also deeply involved in its everyday functioning. Hence Slovenia, with a directly elected strong mayor, occupies a unique place at the intersection of Southern European local government systems and the Central East European type of local–central relations.
COBISS.SI-ID: 35770205