Why talk about the global economic crisis today? The topic no longer seems as relevant or fresh as it did two years ago when we issued the call for papers. At that time, the events following the implosion of Lehman Brothers in 2008 seemed to be at the centre of everyday and media discourse: we heard it on the radio, saw it on television, read it in the printed media and spoke about it in public and private places. Our imaginaries and experiences seemed to be saturated by the global economic crisis. The global economic crisis informed or structured discussions about political interventions, bailouts, quantitative easing, the nationalization of financial institutions, and austerity programmes. The emergence of the Indignados in Spain, the public sector workers' protests in Greece, the London Riots, the Occupy Movement, the Arab Spring and the mass demonstrations in Russia and Turkey were often read through the prism of, or shared a common destiny with, the unfolding crisis.Does the decentring of the global economic crisis from public and media attention imply that the crisis is over, or should we understand both the existence and the effects of subsequent events and developments as ongoing expressions of the crisis? These events and developments have included a shift in the dominant discourse from 'crisis' to

▪ There are growing indications that the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is undergoing a shift in strategic orientation from an exclusive focus on institutional 'social partnership' within the European Union towards a more campaigning 'social movement' model. This article explores two recent campaigns, on the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Convention on the Future of Europe, and considers how far these developments mark the emergence of a distinctive trade union identity at European level. The article concludes with examples of other areas where the ETUC could encourage 'internal dialogue' within European trade unionism and develop further a 'hybrid' transnational identity.

It is a commonplace assumption that human life has become increasingly risky, and the concept of risk has become increasingly central to social scientific investigation. In this paper the increasing riskiness of everyday life is explored through an analysis of the origins, development and crisis of the welfare state. It is argued that the development of the National Lottery is part of a fundamental recomposition of the state which reflects the decomposition of the ‘law of insurance’ as the organising principle of the Keynesian Welfare State and its replacement by the ‘law of lottery’ as the principle regulatory mechanism of the neo-liberal capitalist state

This paper outlines recent examples of labor movement renewal in Europe in the context of European integration and globalization. It highlights an increasing tension between the strategy of social partnership pursued by official labor organizations and grassroots "social movement unionism." The paper demonstrates that the prospects for successful renewal involves linking workplace mobi lization and organization with wider popular struggles to form a movement against the new regionalized forms of corporate and state power. This has direct relevance to current debates in the US concerning the tension between "service" and "organizing" models and demonstrates the need for vibrant autonomous work place unionism as well as a political dimension to labor movement renewal.

This article defines and explores the crisis of social democratic trade unionism in three countries in western Europe. The authors contend that a particularized form of postwar trade union orientation was socially constructed in Britain, Germany, and France in which a party union nexus gave special privileges to unions in return for compliance with state policies in the national interest. This arrangement has broken down in recent years under the pressure of global product market competition. As a result, trade unions are being forced to adopt alternative strategic orientations, involving both a fracture in the party union nexus and a willingness to work within wider civil society.