Regulating Uber: The Politics of the Platform Economy in Europe and the United States
Name
Thelen Regulating Uber.pdf
Size
340.89 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
cecdf126ff5fcdbcb8dc6a6f806ce2e8
Author(s)
Thelen, Kathleen
Date Issued
November 2018
Journal
Perspectives on Politics
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Citation
Thelen, Kathleen. "Regulating Uber: The Politics of the Platform Economy in Europe and the United States." Perspectives on Politics 16, 4 (November 2018): 938-953 © American Political Science Association 2018
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
I use the case of the transportation network company Uber as a lens to explore the comparative politics of the platform economy in Europe and the United States. Within the advanced capitalist world, different countries have responded in very different ways to this new service, from welcome embrace and accommodating regulatory adjustments to complete rejection and legal bans. I analyze Uber’s arrival and reception in the United States, Germany, and Sweden, documenting three very different responses to this disruptive new actor. I show that conflicts over Uber centered on different issues in the three countries. These differences were consequential because the specific regulatory “flashpoints”that Uber provoked mobilized different actors, inspired the formation of different coalitions, and shaped the terms on which conflicts over Uber were framed and fought.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592718001081
