Bryan Evans - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Bryan Evans

The organizing struggles of the Congress of Industrial Organizations in the 1930s and 1940s contr... more The organizing struggles of the Congress of Industrial Organizations in the 1930s and 1940s contributed significantly to transforming work and life for industrial workers and their communities by creating the means to bargain for better wages and working conditions. Now, in the first decade of the 21st century, North American hotel workers can honourably make a claim to being the legitimate heirs of this history as they struggle to transform the quality of work and life in the service economy.

Varieties of Austerity

This chapter historicizes post-2008 reforms by summarizing the New Public Management (NPM) ideals... more This chapter historicizes post-2008 reforms by summarizing the New Public Management (NPM) ideals and forms of public sector restructuring that first began to emerge in the 1980s. This is then followed by national snapshots of state restructuring up to 2008 and the relevant austerity packages implicating the public sector (employment and programmes) after 2008. While each country has its own story to tell, several varieties of austerity in relation to public sector restructuring after the global financial crisis are discernible. Austerity-era transformations within the public sector involved new institutions forcing restructuring, exposing many public sector workers but insulating a few areas (primarily those responsible for economic decision making and associated with privatization), along with the insinuation of public sector flaws inherent to NPM ideology. Some of the negative effects of these strategies became glaringly apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Changing Politics and Policy of Austerity

This chapter charts the impact of austerity on social concertation, used as an umbrella term to e... more This chapter charts the impact of austerity on social concertation, used as an umbrella term to encompass processes and institutions of social partnership/ social dialogue/social concertation/ and neo-corporatism. These arrangements varied considerably between states, and were variously interpreted as providing a real voice for labour or, alternatively, representing a means by which labour might be managed and controlled. Considered as a means of expressing labour influence on policy, social dialogue or partnership has not fared well in the period of austerity. In quite diverse contexts – Canada, Ireland, Spain and Denmark -- notwithstanding national differences, social concertation mechanisms have been by-passed, effectively abolished or, where they remain, reduced in scope and significance. Whatever its limitations in the past, this avenue for expressing labour’s voice on policy issues is even less effective than formerly.

The Austerity State, 2017

Canadian Public Administration, 2021

A few thoughts about this issue After the success of the last general issue (5/2) of Interface, w... more A few thoughts about this issue After the success of the last general issue (5/2) of Interface, we have once again invited movement scholars and practitioners (and everybody in between) to reflect on the histories, strategies and discourses of the movements that they are currently focusing on without a need for their pieces to become part of a themed issue. It is worth emphasising, however, that each issue of Interface has an unthemed section so authors do not have to wait for a particular theme to publish their work.

Austerity is not always one-size-fits-all; it can be a flexible, class-based strategy taking seve... more 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 book identifies continuity and variety in crisis-driven austerity restructuring across Canada, Denmark, Ireland and Spain. In the book's analysis, it focuses on several components of austerity, including fiscal and monetary policy, budget narratives, public sector reform, labour market flexibilization, and resistance. In so doing, it uncovers how austerity can be categorized into different dynamic types, and expose the economic, social, and political implications of the varieties of austerity.

Alternate routes: a journal of Critical Social Research, 2019

Socialist Studies/Études Socialistes, 2009

Policy and Society, 2005

Governments in the Anglo-American democracies have restructured their relationships with nonprofi... more Governments in the Anglo-American democracies have restructured their relationships with nonprofit organisations (NPOs). New modes of control have emerged which represent the paradox of centralised decentralisation. We examine the impacts on NPO financing, accountability and human resources. While the experience of Canadian NPOs is used to illustrate the impact of neoliberal induced restructuring, comparative evidence suggests that the Canadian experience is broadly representative. The imposition of neoliberal governance structures on nonprofit service providers serves to compromise their autonomy and advocacy function, while commercialising nonprofit operations and imposing burdens that have strained organisational capacity. The neoliberal model of market-based regulation has moved many nonprofit service organisations away from their community oriented focus and towards a “business model”. In various forms, the state has introduced quasi-markets or, at a minimum, required NPO’s to ...

Relay, A Socialist Project Review, intends to act as a forum for conveying and debating current i... more Relay, A Socialist Project Review, intends to act as a forum for conveying and debating current issues of importance to the Left in Ontario, Canada and from around the world. Contributions to the relaying of the foundations for a viable socialist politics are welcomed by the editorial committee. Relay is published by the Socialist Project. Signed articles reflect the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors. About the Socialist Project The Socialist Project does not propose an easy politics for defeating capitalism or claim a ready alternative to take its place. We oppose capitalism out of necessity and support the resistance of others out of solidarity. This resistance creates spaces of hope, and an activist hope is the first step to discovering a new socialist politics. Through the struggles of that politics-struggles informed by collective analysis and reflection-alternatives to capitalism will emerge. Such anti-capitalist struggles, we believe, must develop a viable working class politics, and be informed by democratic struggles against racial, sexist and homophobic oppressions, and in support of the national self-determination of the many peoples of the world. In Canada and the world today, there is an imperative for the Left to begin a sustained process of reflection, struggle and organizational re-groupment and experimentation. Neither capitalism nor neoliberalism will fade from the political landscape based on the momentum of their own contradictions and without the Left developing new political capacities. We encourage those who share this assessment to meet, debate and begin to make a contribution to a renewed socialist project in your union, school and community.

The forty-years of neoliberal capitalism has been accompanied by an ever expanding trend toward d... more The forty-years of neoliberal capitalism has been accompanied by an ever expanding trend toward deepening inequality and the expansion of a low wage labour market. The expansion of the non-union, post-industrial, ‘new’ economy characterized by low wage service sector jobs became identified with a deterioration in employment conditions and quality. Employment arrangements, reflecting the new normal, offer not security and adequacy but rather low pay and precarity. Living wage movements, as well as campaigns demanding a higher general minimum wage, have emerged as part of the response demanding economic justice. These movements and campaigns, found both in the United States and Canada, are significantly different in breadth and tactics. Here, those differences are described and interrogated as a function of the uneven terrain of neoliberal restructuring within each country.

The organizing struggles of the Congress of Industrial Organizations in the 1930s and 1940s contr... more The organizing struggles of the Congress of Industrial Organizations in the 1930s and 1940s contributed significantly to transforming work and life for industrial workers and their communities by creating the means to bargain for better wages and working conditions. Now, in the first decade of the 21st century, North American hotel workers can honourably make a claim to being the legitimate heirs of this history as they struggle to transform the quality of work and life in the service economy.

Varieties of Austerity

This chapter historicizes post-2008 reforms by summarizing the New Public Management (NPM) ideals... more This chapter historicizes post-2008 reforms by summarizing the New Public Management (NPM) ideals and forms of public sector restructuring that first began to emerge in the 1980s. This is then followed by national snapshots of state restructuring up to 2008 and the relevant austerity packages implicating the public sector (employment and programmes) after 2008. While each country has its own story to tell, several varieties of austerity in relation to public sector restructuring after the global financial crisis are discernible. Austerity-era transformations within the public sector involved new institutions forcing restructuring, exposing many public sector workers but insulating a few areas (primarily those responsible for economic decision making and associated with privatization), along with the insinuation of public sector flaws inherent to NPM ideology. Some of the negative effects of these strategies became glaringly apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Changing Politics and Policy of Austerity

This chapter charts the impact of austerity on social concertation, used as an umbrella term to e... more This chapter charts the impact of austerity on social concertation, used as an umbrella term to encompass processes and institutions of social partnership/ social dialogue/social concertation/ and neo-corporatism. These arrangements varied considerably between states, and were variously interpreted as providing a real voice for labour or, alternatively, representing a means by which labour might be managed and controlled. Considered as a means of expressing labour influence on policy, social dialogue or partnership has not fared well in the period of austerity. In quite diverse contexts – Canada, Ireland, Spain and Denmark -- notwithstanding national differences, social concertation mechanisms have been by-passed, effectively abolished or, where they remain, reduced in scope and significance. Whatever its limitations in the past, this avenue for expressing labour’s voice on policy issues is even less effective than formerly.

The Austerity State, 2017

Canadian Public Administration, 2021

A few thoughts about this issue After the success of the last general issue (5/2) of Interface, w... more A few thoughts about this issue After the success of the last general issue (5/2) of Interface, we have once again invited movement scholars and practitioners (and everybody in between) to reflect on the histories, strategies and discourses of the movements that they are currently focusing on without a need for their pieces to become part of a themed issue. It is worth emphasising, however, that each issue of Interface has an unthemed section so authors do not have to wait for a particular theme to publish their work.

Austerity is not always one-size-fits-all; it can be a flexible, class-based strategy taking seve... more 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 book identifies continuity and variety in crisis-driven austerity restructuring across Canada, Denmark, Ireland and Spain. In the book's analysis, it focuses on several components of austerity, including fiscal and monetary policy, budget narratives, public sector reform, labour market flexibilization, and resistance. In so doing, it uncovers how austerity can be categorized into different dynamic types, and expose the economic, social, and political implications of the varieties of austerity.

Alternate routes: a journal of Critical Social Research, 2019

Socialist Studies/Études Socialistes, 2009

Policy and Society, 2005

Governments in the Anglo-American democracies have restructured their relationships with nonprofi... more Governments in the Anglo-American democracies have restructured their relationships with nonprofit organisations (NPOs). New modes of control have emerged which represent the paradox of centralised decentralisation. We examine the impacts on NPO financing, accountability and human resources. While the experience of Canadian NPOs is used to illustrate the impact of neoliberal induced restructuring, comparative evidence suggests that the Canadian experience is broadly representative. The imposition of neoliberal governance structures on nonprofit service providers serves to compromise their autonomy and advocacy function, while commercialising nonprofit operations and imposing burdens that have strained organisational capacity. The neoliberal model of market-based regulation has moved many nonprofit service organisations away from their community oriented focus and towards a “business model”. In various forms, the state has introduced quasi-markets or, at a minimum, required NPO’s to ...

Relay, A Socialist Project Review, intends to act as a forum for conveying and debating current i... more Relay, A Socialist Project Review, intends to act as a forum for conveying and debating current issues of importance to the Left in Ontario, Canada and from around the world. Contributions to the relaying of the foundations for a viable socialist politics are welcomed by the editorial committee. Relay is published by the Socialist Project. Signed articles reflect the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors. About the Socialist Project The Socialist Project does not propose an easy politics for defeating capitalism or claim a ready alternative to take its place. We oppose capitalism out of necessity and support the resistance of others out of solidarity. This resistance creates spaces of hope, and an activist hope is the first step to discovering a new socialist politics. Through the struggles of that politics-struggles informed by collective analysis and reflection-alternatives to capitalism will emerge. Such anti-capitalist struggles, we believe, must develop a viable working class politics, and be informed by democratic struggles against racial, sexist and homophobic oppressions, and in support of the national self-determination of the many peoples of the world. In Canada and the world today, there is an imperative for the Left to begin a sustained process of reflection, struggle and organizational re-groupment and experimentation. Neither capitalism nor neoliberalism will fade from the political landscape based on the momentum of their own contradictions and without the Left developing new political capacities. We encourage those who share this assessment to meet, debate and begin to make a contribution to a renewed socialist project in your union, school and community.

The forty-years of neoliberal capitalism has been accompanied by an ever expanding trend toward d... more The forty-years of neoliberal capitalism has been accompanied by an ever expanding trend toward deepening inequality and the expansion of a low wage labour market. The expansion of the non-union, post-industrial, ‘new’ economy characterized by low wage service sector jobs became identified with a deterioration in employment conditions and quality. Employment arrangements, reflecting the new normal, offer not security and adequacy but rather low pay and precarity. Living wage movements, as well as campaigns demanding a higher general minimum wage, have emerged as part of the response demanding economic justice. These movements and campaigns, found both in the United States and Canada, are significantly different in breadth and tactics. Here, those differences are described and interrogated as a function of the uneven terrain of neoliberal restructuring within each country.