European integration studies, European Monetary Union, and resilience of austerity in Europe: Post-mortem on a crisis foretold

Abstract

Europe's Economic and Monetary Union was presented in terms of an idealized, teleological narrative of 'ever closer union' that obscured substantive conflicts within and among the member states of the eurozone as well as the EU as a whole. Despite its limitations the narrative persisted, because it was instrumentalized by powerful social forces and states and reproduced by the mainstream European studies academic cohort, which was strongly influenced by the European Commission. At the present time economic stagnation is giving rise to demands from Keynesian and heterodox quarters for an alternative to neoliberal austerity. However, the resilience of austerity should be understood not primarily as a result of a dominant, if flawed, intellectual discourse, but rather as an expression of Europe's distinctive power relations and the imperatives of German export mercantilism.

Financialization in the Crypto-Colonies: Greece and Thailand

“…In addition, we can see how acceleration of inflation was the main concern of the ruling economic elites, whereas acceleration of financialization and indebtedness (private and public) at the periphery of the monetary union were deemed irrelevant. This is understandable when we note the structure of lending at the European periphery and see that the Ordoliberal neo-mercantilism (Cafruny, 2015) was the main mechanism behind the export of capital and goods from the EU centre to the Southern European countries.…”

Resilience and the world order: the EU and the RIC states

“…This strand of scholarship shares with the former the assumption that the current Western-led liberal order is characterised by an increasing lack of stability, with key pillars such as the United States (US) or the United Kingdom taking a step back from preserving its key features (Higgott and Proud 2017 ; Harold 2014 ). The concept is generally seen as the intentional ability of international actors to predict and identify challenges in world politics, manage them, and overcome and bounce back from any adverse consequences and effects (Juncos 2017 ; Thiele 2016 ; Arbolino, Di Caro and Marani 2016 ; Christou 2016 ; Juntunen and Hyvönen 2014 ; Cafruny 2015 ). Scholars here analyse the way liberal international actors in the West (primarily the US or the EU and its member states) understand and adapt to the changing world order (Joseph 2018 ; Deudney and Ikenberry 2018 ; Christou 2016 ).…”

La crisis del euro en perspectiva

“…Estas múltiples transformaciones no alteran un contrato social basado en un sistema de recaudo muy atrasado, de manera que, si bien en magnitud diferente, tanto los ricos como la clase media-baja se benefician de la evasión tributaria. 15 Nos referimos al cambio de criterios contables que ocurrió entre 1997 y 1999, que llevó en 2002 a que Eurostat rechazara los números del gobierno griego. Se suele confundir este episodio con la firma de un contrato de swap con Goldman Sachs que permitió esconder una parte de la deuda para transferirla a futuro.…”

“…La segunda fase del proceso de integración ocurre en un contexto profundamente diferente con respecto al que acompañó la fase constitutiva de la cee (Cafruny, 2015). El régimen de acumulación regulado por los acuerdos de Bretton Woods estaba caracterizado por una moderada competencia entre las economías, así como por el uso del dólar como moneda de referencia para los intercambios, el control administrativo sobre los movimientos internacionales de mercancías y capitales, y la prevalencia de la dimensión doméstica en la producción e inversión (Simonazzi y Ginzburg, 2015).…”