neoliberalism – To Archeio

The ‘Greferendum’ and the Eurozone crisis in the Danish daily press

apostolos — Mon, 04 May 2020 23:24:44 +0000

This article presents a critical analysis of the Danish press coverage of the referendum called by the Left-led coalition government of Greece in July 2015, concerning the future of austerity policies. It focuses on the conservative daily press of Denmark, one of the ‘core’ EU countries, writing on developments in the periphery. Three main themes emerge in the study’s discourse analysis of Berlingske Tidende’s and Jyllands Posten’s coverage: ‘post-democratic realism’, ‘the upper-class gaze’, and ‘Orientalism and cultural racism’. The authors not only reveal the one-sided, elitist coverage by the rightwing papers at Europe’s centre but also point out how the principles of neoliberalism itself and the acceptance of austerity are being constantly reinforced by the media in a country like Denmark, which had previously been marked out for its more progressive welfare capitalism. Denmark’s turn to the Right (and to racism) alongside its biased coverage of the ‘Greferendum’ are examined here in the context of the way in which neoliberalism and its politico-social effects are now presented as both common sense and the only way forward.

Dispatches from the Greek lab: Metaphors, strategies and debt in the European crisis

apostolos — Mon, 04 May 2020 23:24:16 +0000

This field note is a first attempt to reflect on the choreography of the European crisis from a psychosocial perspective. It focuses on the situation as it has been unfolding in one of the debtor countries of the South, namely Greece. After mapping a variety of metaphors, repertoires and strategies used to energise blame and guilt and thus legitimise the neoliberal policies implemented, it elaborates on the multiple functions of debt, articulating a biopolitical approach with Freudian and Lacanian theorisations of the superego. It also inscribes within this framework the current mutations in political domination.

Austerity Discourses in “Der Spiegel” Journal, 2009–2014

apostolos — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:54 +0000

This article looks at the ways mainstream media discuss austerity and its failure to reach its
proclaimed goals, to reduce public debt and to boost productivity in the heavily indebted countries of
the Eurozone’s periphery. This study analyzed Der Spiegel’s articles presenting the crisis and austerity in Europe, focusing on the Greek case, from 2009 until 2014. A thematic analysis was developed in
the study a broad corpus of articles, focusing on the main ideas they unfold. Deploying critical political
economy literature, critical cultural theory and critical media studies literature, the article criticizes the
neoliberal hegemony of the EU’s crisis politics and foregrounds the role of mainstream media, including progressivist or objectivist ones such as Spiegel, in the reproduction of neoliberal ideas that expand far beyond the crisis, to produce the institutions, social relations, beliefs and subjectivities for a
post-crisis configuration of capitalism. The article concludes that Spiegel, like other mainstream media,
produce a biopolitical policing of the crisis’ exceptionalized subjects (the citizens of indebted countries)
and the implementation of crisis-politics by creating a public “structure of feeling” related to the hegemonic crisis’ rationales. These rationales are further connected to the development of the new neoliberal subjectivity, which is an objective of the crisis-reforms, such as austerity regimes. In effect, mainstream media discourses reproduce the hegemonic frames of the

Framing PIGS: patterns of racism and neocolonialism in the Euro crisis

apostolos — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:45 +0000

Van Vossole’s article explores the racist framing of the peripheral member states of the European Union, the PIGS (Portugal, Ireland (and/or Italy), Greece and Spain). It demonstrates a strong connection between the processes of racialization and depoliticization, as well as the return of colonial dynamics in the Eurozone. Side-stepping political economy and history, the culturalization of politics perfectly complements the ‘post-political’ neoliberal hegemony. Political and media discourses reproduce it in both populist and corporate interests. The culturalization of politics reduces the differences between centre and periphery to certain ‘cultural characteristics and habits’, as reflected in stereotypes of laziness, non-productivity, corruption, wasteful spending and lying. These make it possible to blame the PIGS for the current crisis, legitimizing drastic austerity measures and a loss of sovereignty. The loss of sovereignty shows remarkable similarities with what Kwame Nkrumah defined as neocolonialism: the continuation of colonial power relations through processes of economic dependence, conditional aid and cultural hegemony. While this problematic only resurfaced during the recent Euro crisis, Van Vossole discusses how today’s racist discourses and neocolonial politics have their roots in the past, particularly in anti-Irish and anti-Mediterranean racism and in the (semi-)colonial position of the PIGS in the British and Ottoman empires. Besides structural violence against the periphery, a major consequence of this racialization is that it jeopardizes any possibility of further democratic political integration on the basis of a common European identity.

The ‘Greek Crisis’ through the Cinematic and Photographic Lens: From ‘Weirdness’ and Decay to Social Protest and Civic Responsibility

apostolos — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:39 +0000

The article explores cinematic and photographic images of the ‘Greek crisis’ in order to show how the visual can render the crisis both visible and invisible, clear and opaque, normalized and contested. Greek new wave cinema, iconic repetitive images of suffering in the center of Athens, and the group of visual artists Depression Era are discussed in this context. I argue that the images in focus articulate the crisis and render it visible. At the same time, however, they challenge one’s expectations of what the crisis is and how normalized it has become. I argue that these images can encourage civic responsibility and a dialogue about freedom and democracy in the current predicament.

Crisis Management and the Institutions of Austerity: A Comparison of Latin American and Greek Experiences

apostolos — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:36 +0000

The proliferation of debt crises around the world since the 1980’s has generated debtrepayment negotiations prioritizing austerity in debtor countries. This forty-year history of debt crises in the Global South and North now allows comparison of these negotiations and their impacts. We examine the distinct and historically specific trajectories in Latin American and Greece, highlighting the foundations of each experience of debt crisis. We focus on the institutions responsible for managing crisis and their reliance on similar austerity strategies to compel debtor countries into a neoliberal restructuring of their economies. This paper examines the similarities and differences in austerity policy through a comparative-historical analysis of Latin American and Greek experiences of debt crisis. The results of such policies and the political actors involved in implementing austerity are also examined. © The Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV), Leiden, 2015.

Golden dawn, media representation and the neoliberal restructuring of social welfare: On the greek crisis and the mobilization of disidentifications

apostolos — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:29 +0000

Due to the economic crisis in 2008, processes of restructuring and dissolution of the social welfare state have been accelerated in the European Union, especially in the context of severe austerity measures imposed in countries with sovereign debt problems such as Greece. These neoliberal policies have increasingly sought their ‘legitimizing basis’ in discourses concerning a corrupt, ineffective and oversized public realm, while simultaneously promoting the notion of ‘welfare dependency’, insinuating an absence of moral values and proper ‘work ethic’ for the poor and disadvantaged, who are the most affected by the social state’s withdrawal. Additionally, such narratives seem to have benefitted from the creation of ‘moral panic’ and the associated cultural representations of underprivileged social groups through mainstream mass media. The current article focuses on the nuances of this phenomenon in Greece, arguing that the catalyst has been the popularity of the extremist, nationalistic and anti-immigrant party of ‘Golden Dawn’. It contends that the representation of Golden Dawn’s rhetoric and activism by the media, triggered processes of disidentification with poverty and the underprivileged in the mind of the average Greek; processes rooted in highly emotive sentiments of patriotism, religion and national identity, while linking such groups with the supposed deviant behaviour and ‘inferior’ traits of immigrants. Furthermore, it argues that this discourse enabled the government to ‘assault’ the ideological stance and arguments of the advocates of robust public social interventions from an advantageous position, enhancing the acceptance of its neoliberal agenda regarding public social policy in the Greek populace.

Crisis, austerity and opposition in mainstream media discourses of Greece

apostolos — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:28 +0000

This article analyzes neoliberal articulations of the economic crisis in Greece, as they appear at the Ekathimerini daily. Neoliberalism is primarily understood as the ideology organizing the political strategies of late capitalist production. The analysis focuses on the ways the capitalist crisis is presented in the context of Greece, as well as the ways that socio-political opposition to neoliberal reforms are addressed. Ekathimerini reproduces the hegemonic explanations of the crisis that view the crisis as a national and moral problem rather than a global and systemic one. The analysis draws concepts from both discourse theory and critical theory. Discourse theory analyzes the neoliberal discourse organizing the political interventions for the reproduction of capitalism in the crisis-context, while political economy critiques the materiality of the capitalist process, which itself is based on discourses and political interventions. The article concludes that Ekathimerini’s crisis-coverage contributes to the form of social engineering organized by neoliberal policies in Greece, in order to produce the political and social norms for a post-crisis configuration of capitalism.

Reconceptualizing social work in times of crisis: An examination of the cases of Greece, Spain and Portugal

apostolos — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:25 +0000

What started as a peripheral banking crisis in 2008 within five years triggered the deepest recession Europe has seen in decades, escalating to manifold socio-political crises. Under these circumstances, many social workers find themselves in a situation of extreme pressure and insecurity. Traditional theories and orthodox practices are now challenged by frontline social workers. This article explores such a ‘reconceptualization’ process, evaluating recent developments and changes in Spanish, Portuguese and Greek social work. We argue that the current crisis has generated a profound (re)politicization of social workers which leads to the redefinition of the core values and principles of social work.

The Greek economic crisis as trope

apostolos — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:19 +0000

The Greek economic crisis resonates across Europe as synonymous with corruption, poor government, austerity, financial bailouts, civil unrest, and social turmoil. The search for accountability on the local level is entangled with competing rhetorics of persuasion, fear, and complex historical consciousness. Internationally, the Greek crisis is employed as a trope to call for collective mobilization and political change. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in Trikala, central Greece, this article outlines how accountability for the Greek economic crisis is understood in local and international arenas. Trikala can be considered a microcosm for the study of the pan-European economic turmoil as the “Greek crisis“ is heralded as a warning on national stages throughout the continent.