THE OPEN METHOD OF COORDINATION: SOFT CHARACTER IN APPEARANCE; HARD EFFECTS IN REALITY?

Öz In this paper, the Open Method of Coordination (OMC), presented as the soft style of regulation on the employment field, will be problematized with the help of Neo-Gramscian authors. Moving on the footsteps of Holman (2004 and 2006), it will be argued that the OMC in appearance has soft characters, but behind this appearance, in reality/essence, it has hard effects on the member states. Taking the European Monetary Union and Stability and Growth Pact into consideration, the policy repertoires for the nation states in dealing with employment problems has been limited to supply-side measures. The alternatives have become unthinkable. Thus, in essence one cannot speak about national autonomy in reality. The OMC has become one of the main tools in this through disseminating popular concepts, through hindering the political natures of the decisions taken at the broader level. It has become the new cognitive model framing the debate at the EU and national state level on employment.

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