Transnational Depoliticisation and Industrial Policy: The European Commission and French Steel (1980–1984)

Abstract

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Industrial policy and comparative political economy: A literature review and research agenda

“…Until the emergence of the European competition policy regime in the 1980s (Buch-Hansen and Wigger, 2010), member states leveraged their full regulatory authority over domestic mergers to speed-up industrial consolidation in strategic sectors (Hall, 1986: Chapter six). Historical analyses highlight how, after the first oil shock and the consequent slow-down of the post-war boom, state intervention was retooled to support declining industries like steel, shipbuilding, and textile with measures of defensive industrial policy (Moraitis, 2020; Warlouzet, 2017: Chapter five).…”

“…The crisis of the Fordist wage-led production regime since the mid-1970s triggered a series of interrelated events that ultimately sanctioned the demise of post-war industrial policy (Bianchi and Labory, 2006b; Moraitis, 2020: 555–556). These include the following: the abandonment of Keynesian macroeconomic management in favor of inflation targeting by independent central banks; the underperformance of many state-owned enterprises, whose losses started weighting heavily on public finances given the low growth environment (Bianchi and Labory, 2006b Ch.…”

Beyond the Mutual Constitution of States and Markets: On the Governance of Alienation

“…Rather, neoliberals advocate a complex system of global governance, which Slobodian (2018) terms 'ordoglobalism', constituted by a multi-scalar layering of international treaties and supranational institutions that can fully 'encase' capitalism's wiring from democratic interference. Take, for example, the case of state aid rules, which limit state support for private enterprises on the grounds that it distorts competitiona government may be prohibited from rescuing a failing business and staving off mass redundancies by European Union (EU) treaties or World Trade Organisation rules that are enshrined in its own national laws (Moraitis 2019).…”