The German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ, Tōkyō), L’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS, Paris), and the Japanese-German Center Berlin (JDZB) jointly organized two workshops in Paris (October 2017) and Tōkyō (December 2018) on labor market liberalization and growing inequalities in France, Germany and Japan and the political consequences for our democratic systems. The presentations focused on what seems to be a noticeable shift in discussing structural labor market reforms after the financial crisis in 2008. Market-oriented reforms aimed at improving competitiveness is giving way to considerations about the social and political costs of these reforms, like growing income inequalities, which maybe among the reasons for growing distrust in parties and democratic institutions.

To wrap-up the findings from these workshops we cordially invite you to this final conference at the JDZB. Similarities and differences in the three countries will be discussed. It will also be analyzed what follows for political participation in France, Japan and Germany with scholars and representatives from politics, labor unions, industry and social movements.
Language of the conference will be English.