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Limits and Possibilities of Resistance
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Limits and Possibilities of Resistance

Abstract

Austerity is not always one-size-fits-all; it can be a flexible, class-based strategy taking several forms depending on the political-economic forces and institutional characteristics present. This important book identifies continuity and variety in crisis-driven austerity restructuring across Canada, Denmark, Ireland and Spain. In their analysis, the authors focus on several components of austerity, including fiscal and monetary policy, budget narratives, public sector reform, labor market flexibilization, and resistance. In so doing, they uncover how austerity can be categorized into different dynamic types, and expose the economic, social, and political implications of the varieties of austerity. Identifying continuity and variety in crisis-driven austerity restructuring across Canada, Denmark, Ireland and Spain, this important book uncovers how austerity can be categorized into different dynamic types, and exposes the economic, social, and political implications of the varieties of austerity. Austerity, in one form or another, coloured the politics of the past decade (2008–18). As the previous chapters have demonstrated, austerity comes in varieties: fiscal consolidation by means of balanced budgets and expenditure cuts or restraint, plus multiple modes of public sector restructuring and privatization, and labour restructuring by flexibility and internal devaluation. Having, in previous chapters, tracked the impact of austerity, both as a general programme and in its specific forms, we now turn to the issue of how much and what kind of resistance there has been and its effectiveness in halting or reversing these policies. Reactions to austerity vary enormously from enthusiastic support, to various levels of acceptance and consent (ranging from enthusiasm, to resigned – there is no alternative), to disaffection (Clarke, 2017). Resistance, too, comes in many forms (Dean, 2014; Horvat, 2014). Some actions may be highly individualized, such as refusing to accept responsibility and making the tough choices required by the justificatory rhetoric of austerity (Mitrea, 2017). Others might involve efforts to mitigate the effects through self-sacrificing behaviour (Baines, 2017). Often these responses will barely register on a scale seeking to measure resistance yet they do indicate, where detected, non-acceptance of austerian policies and practices on the part of individuals or spontaneously formed collectivities. Other forms of resistance are more visible and can be compared according to a number of criteria. One might be the scale on which they develop – from highly localized, to regional, national or international. Another is whether resistance is primarily defensive, directed against some specific instance of austerity, such as reductions in a social service, or the eviction of an occupant from housing, or resistance that escalates into a protest against austerity in general.

Authors

Whiteside H; McBride S; Evans B

Book title

Varieties of Austerity

Pagination

pp. 157-176

Publisher

Bristol University Press

Publication Date

May 3, 2021

DOI

10.56687/9781529212259-010
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