International Perspectives on Securing Human and Social Rights and Diversity Gains at Work in the Aftermath of the Global Economic Crisis and in Times of Austerity

• Author: Michalle Mor Barak,Jose Pascal Rocha,Andri Georgiadou,Olivia Kyriakidou,Joana Vassilopoulou
• Published date: 01 December 2019
• Date: 01 December 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12333

International Perspectives on Securing Human

and Social Rights and Diversity Gains at Work

in the Aftermath of the Global Economic Crisis

and in Times of Austerity

DRJOANA VASSILOPOULOU,

1

DROLIVIA KYRIAKIDOU,

2

DRJOSE PASCAL DA ROCHA,

3

DRANDRI GEORGIADOU

4

and PROF MICHALLE MOR BARAK

5

1

Brunel Business School, Brunel University London, UK and Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University,

The Netherlands

2

Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece

3

Columbia University, USA

4

Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus

5

University of SouthernCalifornia, USA

This editorialilluminates the evidenceof how human and social rightsand diversity gains at work areunder attack

in the aftermathof the global economic crisis and intimes of austerity. We providea brief overview of the six articles

in this issue, whichdraw upon a wide range of theories and engagewith different, but in many ways connected,issues

pertinent to human and social right, diversity and equality in the light of the economic crisis and austerity. The

editorial concludes discussing a number of dilemmas and problematic issues that remain despite the increased

scholarly attention to the threat to human and social rights and diversity gains at work in current times. Lastly, we

offer recommendations to how diversity advocates can develop new approaches and strategies in order to resist

the current threat to the diversity agenda internationally.

Introduction

The aftermath of the global economic crisis remains a

concern for both mature and emerging economies. Some

countries continue to experience higher levels of

economic growth, while others are on a slow path of

recovery, such as Greece. There is also some disparity in

how governments have responded to the crisis in terms

of policy responses. As a first response to the economic

downturn, the USA launched a financial stimulus

programme and waited until after its economy was

recovering before it began to tighten fiscal policy in

2010. However, since his election in 2016, Trump has

made a great effort to rollback many of the Obama-era

regulations, including a number of protections that were

adopted after the financial crash. This policy shift poses

new risks for the USA for possible future economic

downturns (Gelles, 2017). In contrast, many European

governments, either of their own choice such as the UK

or at the order of international and European financial

institutions such as the troika in the case of Greece,

Spain and Portugal have imposed stringent neoliberal

economic policies, including austerity measures on their

populations in direct response to the financial crisis

(McKee et al., 2012). This has led to significant

uncertainty, due to an increasingly precarious mode of

living for many in the world.

In such uncertaintimes, human and social rights matter

even more. However , the neoliberal agenda, poses a threa t

to human and social rights across the globe (Atasoy,

2014). A main phenomenon of neoliberalism, with a

history in the US starting in the 1970s and exacerbated

by the ReaganAdministration in the 1980sand at the same

time in the UK by Thatcher, is rapid marketization and

privatization (Cerny, 2008). Typical outcomes over time

are disempowerment, dispossession, destabilization and

depoliticization (Keatinget al., 2010). Subsequently,these

effects then pit various stakeholder groups against each

other, with income and class being drawn as the battle

lines. Neoliberaleconomic policy choicesin the aftermath

of the global economic crisis, such as austerity, have

increased inequality and poverty, have reduced human

and social rights (Atasoy, 2014) and at the same time

diversity gains at work have been reverted or put at risk.

©2018 European Academy of Management

DOI: 10.1111/emre.12333

European Management Review, Vol. 16, –, (2019)

837 845