Luis Moreno

Plasmons and Screening in Monolayer and Multilayer Black Phosphorus

Black phosphorus exhibits a high degree of band anisotropy. However, we find that its in-plane static screening remains relatively isotropic for momenta relevant to elastic long-range scattering processes. On the other hand, the collective electronic excitations in the system exhibit a strong anisotropy. Band nonparabolicity, due to interband couplings, leads to a plasmon frequency which scales as nβ, where n is the carrier concentration, and β<1/2. Screening and charge distribution in the out-of-plane direction are also studied using a nonlinear Thomas-Fermi model.

Mending Nets in the South: Anti-poverty Policies in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain

The marginal role of social assistance and the absence of minimum income programmes have long been thought to constitute defining characteristics of the southern European model of welfare. Nevertheless, over the 1990s significant innovations in this field have taken place. The paper aims to contribute to the analysis of recent developments by critically examining the experience of anti-poverty policies in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. It is argued that the “patchiness” of safety nets in southern Europe is due to a unique set of constraints, the most relevant of which are the role of families and the “softness” of state institutions. A review of national profiles reveals that new policies introduced in all four countries mark progress towards redressing some of the historical imbalances of that welfare model. In particular, fully fledged minimum income schemes now operate in Portugal and in certain Spanish regions, while an experiment involving a number of Italian municipalities is still in progress. In spite of this, the paper concludes that social safety nets in southern Europe remain frail in terms of institutional design as well as political support and legitimacy.

Decentralization in Spain

Since the transition to democracy in the late 1970s, Spain has undergone a process of deep decentralization and an incipient federalization. This article analyses the main features of such processes underlying the high level of home rule achieved by the 17 Comunidades Autónomas , when compared to other federal-like systems in the world. Accommodating Spains secular diversity appears to be in line with the increasing role of meso life in the process of Europeanization.

Youth, family change and welfare arrangements

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the main characteristics and welfare rationale of the Mediterranean typology. Familism, female employment and care are singled out as three representative areas which provide data on the dynamics of continuity and change in the Southern European countries under examination. Particular attention is paid to the increasing female participation in the labour market and the gradual disappearance of the so-called Mediterranean ‘superwomen’. The process of female labour activation is already having a great impact in all activities concerned with the type of care traditionally carried out within Mediterranean households. Final remarks stress the need to pay attention in future research to ongoing societal changes which are bound to have knock-on consequences for Southern European welfare as we have known it until now.

The Europeanization of welfare Paradigm shifts and social policy reforms

The process of Europeanisation implies convergence across EU member states. This is to be achieved mainly through structural economic harmonisation and institutional system-building. This chapter deals with contemporary welfare developments in the European social model. We identify the major changes affecting European countries both functionally (in terms of policy integration), and territorially (as regard multi-level governance), and go on to consider EU initiatives in social policy-making. New policies aimed at co-ordinating employment and social policies at the European level seek to bridge the dichotomies between the economic and the social and between the national and the European. Hence, while a paradigm shift in macro-economic policies has enabled monetary centralisation and a growing convergence of EU internal ‘open’ markets, the decentralisation of welfare programmes has also aimed at meeting demands for territorial subsidiarity. Reforms related to the emergence of what may be termed new social risks may provide EU institutions with opportunities to make social policy reforms consistent with the new economic policy orientations, while respecting national diversity. In the concluding section we discuss the extent of convergence in social policy paradigms across European countries.

Local and global: mesogovernments and territorial identities

Colloquium on ‘Identity and Territorial Autonomy in Plural Societies’, IPSA Research Committee on Politics and Ethnicity. University of Santiago (July 17-19, 1998), Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Printed in Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 5 (3-4): 61-75, 1999.

Public perception of biotechnology and genetic engineering in Spain: Tendencies and ambivalence

Abstract The authors analyze available data concerning the public perception of biotechnology and genetic engineering in Spain. The data show a series of ambivalent attitudes in Spanish public opinion towards these modern technologies. Although research in human genetic engineering is considered to be valuable, its application is questioned from an ethical perspective. Biotechnology is believed to be useful to humanity, yet Spaniards are not in favor of its application to food production. Another aspect of aspect of Spanish public opinion is the poor knowledge of the technologies at issue. The authors argue that this situation is caused primarily by the lack of debate in Spanish society concerning the social, legal, ethical, and economic implications of biotechnology and genetic engineering. The absence of public debate on technology in a particular society is a reflection and a cause of that societys failure to engage in the processes of conflict, negotiation, and regulation that lead to the configuration of the technology.

Welfare mix, CSR and social citizenship

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an important undertaking by corporations in order to advance social citizenship. In the last decades a growing implication of businesses and NGOs in welfare development has run hand in hand with a noticeable increase of both: (a) the for-profit welfare provision of policies and services to the general public, and (b) those programmes made available by corporations to their employees. All these developments, together with the provision of social policies by governments, have coalesced into a welfare mix of entitlements, interventions and policy instruments with long-term effects for the improvement of citizens’ living conditions. In this paper an analysis of the worlds of welfare capitalism is contrasted with a CSR typology of policy governance within the context of the European Union. Considerations are made on the impacts that both the global order and the new social risks (NSR) have for the promotion of CSR and the advancement of social citizenship. A brief review of the case for the reconciliation of work and family life seeks to illustrate how CSR might induce a greater role for businesses in welfare systems. In the final section, proposals and hypotheses are put forward for future research endeavours.

Bienestar y políticas familiares en España

The article analyses recent development in families and social policy-making. First, a succinct review is carried out on programmes and policies since the times of transition to democracy (late 1970s). Subsequently, political initiatives and legislation put forward by PP (1996-2004) and PSOE (2004- ) Governments are examined contrasting the approaches taken by both main Spanish parties. Among the concluding remarks it is pointed out that the articulation of a framework for family protection is still pending in Spain’s social protection system. It should guarantee the universal individual rights of family members and uphold the primary social function that families provide for social welfare.

Decentralization and welfare reform in Andalusia

Abstract Decentralization of the Spanish welfare state has stimulated regional policy innovation. A ‘demonstration effect’ among all Spanish Comunidades Autónomas has so far acted as a policy equalizer. In Andalusia, where a strong sense of common identity is widely shared, the regional government (Junta) has implemented new welfare policies which have contributed to consolidate its institutional legitimacy. This article reviews the process of decentralization in Spain. It concentrates on the ‘catching up’ quest articulated by Andalusia to gain a similar status and degree of autonomy as those achieved by the ‘historical nationalities’ (Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia).