Thinking global, living local: Voices in a globalized world

Read all posts for ‘Europe’

  • Welfare States – too good for too long?

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    As societies in Europe become older, Central European countries and EU member states as a whole need to find out if they want, and are able to sustain, the state welfare system inherited from the 20th century in a world of global competition. During the 1980s there was a proverb […]

  • Europe: The Vicious Circle of Subsidies

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    While developing countries move towards the welfare state, European countries need to redesign their welfare model. European states have become so big they are now unwieldy. Basic safety nets have been stretched to unexpected sizes and because the state supports everything that “people deserve”, it’s getting harder and harder to […]

  • Healthcare is a human right - even without paying for it. (Photo by DonkeyHotey on FlickR CC BY-SA 2.0)

    This is Not What We Paid For

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    In spite of the recent downturn in the economy, Hungary is still considered a welfare state. Political statements echo this view, claiming that healthcare is for free. The moves by the former government, which tried to implement a “visit fee” of one Euro to help finance healthcare, are often criticized, […]

  • What's your path?

    An Open Letter to [Job] Seekers: How to Live Your Way into Employment

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    Job stability is passé, and you can be the master of your own professional aspirations, leaning over a post-modern drawing board. You either have found –  if not employment per se – a longer-term vision to pursue, or you are still searching. Here are a few  honest tips how  to approach the search in a post-crisis reality.

  • Reform and Backlash: What Europe Can Learn from Latin America

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    In November, the backlash to externally imposed austerity once again boiled over. Labor unions executed coordinated strikes. University students took to the streets. Daily life came to a halt as citizens protested grinding reforms. The harsh economic restructuring was demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and backed by the […]