European integration as a moral economy: Greek technocrats amidst capitalism-in-crisis

Abstract

This article engages in the ongoing anthropological discussion on the concept of ‘moral economy’ and opts for its multileveled use. It affirms the concept’s suitability for grasping class-specific sets of moral values and considerations on the economy, as well as universalized moral frameworks through which the economy is commonly addressed by both dominated and dominant classes. In dealing with such universalized moral economies, it is suggested that our analysis should critically address the symbolic construction of the economy as an essentially moral process. The value of such a focus lies in analyzing and historicizing the recurrence of epistemologies that deny the centrality of structural oppositions in capitalism and, rather, place emphasis on moral categories, such as fairness, intentionality, and obligation. This multileveled understanding and use of the concept of moral economy can help us to further comprehend the delineation of neoliberalism in European space and the moral reformulation of the political economy of capitalism-in-crisis. The article is based on ethnographic material addressing the course of action taken by Greek technocrats specialized in the policies and cohesion funds of the European Union.

European Funds and the Hermeneutics of the Capitalist Crisis: Insights from within the Greek State

“…Hence, in this article, I choose to view my overall ethnographic work through the analytical lens of the “hermeneutics of the self.” In the first part of the article, I suggest that aid—the “moral” ideology par excellence—and its related practices are not only constitutive of procapitalist idealism but also conducive to a generalized introspection on the character of recipients. This addresses and extends already existing critical perspectives on the ideology of the gift (Gkintidis ; Gronemeyer ; Hattori ; Laidlaw ; Parry ). Further to that, I suggest that the intertwinement of “aid practices” with calls for generalized introspection have acquired particular currency throughout the post‐1970s period of capitalism‐in‐crisis.…”

“…In fact, their public stance not only involved reminding the national audience of the legal obligations of the Greek state toward its creditors and the Economic and Monetary Union but also the inclusion of Greece in a constellation of European states, from which Greeks had profited in the past. This reading pointed toward the idea of a European “moral economy” (Gkintidis ), which consisted of parties that shared solidarity and obligations both in times of “prosperity” and “crisis.” Accordingly, the capitalist crisis was commonly attributed to the wrongdoings of Greeks, and this problematic Greek conduct was juxtaposed to the past help and opportunities offered by the EU. A central illustration of this was the flow of European developmental funds toward Greece starting in the mid‐1980s.…”

“…Material progress was, at the very end, ignited by enlightened acts of dominant parties and relied on the further upholding of relations of mutual good will and trust on behalf of the dominated. In this sense, the construction of EU funds in terms of European aid addressed a liberal idealist epistemology, both as its result and as an argument for its validity (Gkintidis ). This allows one to consider the emergence of the idea of European aid in relation to shifting political configurations among Greek political and administrative personnel starting in the 1980s.…”

“…In order to illustrate this, I elaborate on the case of European developmental funds and their construction as aid starting in the 1980s. Having elsewhere expounded on the political and epistemological implications of European “aid” in various loci of policymaking in Greece and Europe (Gkintidis , ), here I briefly reiterate its centrality in the consolidation of a liberal and idealist (that is, antimaterialist) paradigm. Following on this initial assessment, I then focus on the increasing ue of discourses of aid for the problematization of “recipients,” a process that I suggest is parallel with the changing structural and methodological logic of European developmental funds toward policies of human capital.…”

“…While initially pointing to the particular salience of Greek–EU relations in my case study, I further argue that the hegemonic logic of European funds addresses more than the domain of interstate relations. Importantly, my analysis is situated in the context of works that have pointed to the particular antistructural course of Euro‐American politics throughout the conjuncture of the post‐1970s crisis of Western capitalism (Fassin ; Guilhot ; Gkintidis ; Levitas )…”