Contradictions of structural adjustment policies in southern Europe
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Abstract
This paper analyses the changes operated in Mediterranean societies on the first decades of 21st century. The work studies how political transformations originated as a consequence of the implementing of structural adjustment programs affected life conditions of the majority of the workers. Through a transdisciplinary study on social sciences and the analysis of statistical information compiled in reports and official databases, this article has the aim of gather empirical evidence of the transformations occurred in southern European labor markets as a result of the spread of neoliberal ideology. One of the main conclusions found in this study lies in that the different policies conducted by national governments, under the aegis of Structural Adjustment Programs decreed by institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, drove a low productivity economy like Spain to a situation where the lack of adequate employment and structural political constraints to fair access to employment critically restrict life expectations for most of the population, forcing ample sectors of the population to migrate abroad. The article also tackles the contradictions between neoliberal policies and precapitalist structures existing in Mediterranean societies, with the aim to outline questions that contribute to find political alternatives in favor of greater social and economic democratization.
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