Southern European Perspectives when Dealing with Socio-economic Consequences of the Crisis

Abstract

The late 2000s crisis has transformed Europe. Especially in the south, governmental efforts to face the situation become visible in institutional changes in favour of austerity and which, at the same time, were detrimental for the welfare state, the democratic representation, and labour relations, finally set off social protests (ZAMORA-KAPOOR, A. & COLLER, X. 2014). The implemented policies reduced the state’s participation in the economy, which lowered the economic activity, increased unemployment rates, reduced consumption, and sank the image of the governments (ibid.). In such dire political and economic scenario, citizens’ increasing disaffection towards their traditional democracies and the handling of the crisis encouraged the rise of alternative forms of conducting politics: such as the surge of new political actors and innovative alignments of communities to deal with the socio- economic issues (ibid.). Civil Societies Organizations, for example, had to develop tactics of interaction, different tools of communication and be more flexible in management skills to solve pressing problems (EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 2013: p. 3).