Mine Kara, "Causes and Consequences of the Recent European Crisis: Can Polanyi help us understand problems of the Eurozone?," All Azimuth 3, No.2 (2014): 37-49. (original) (raw)

Causes and Consequences of the Recent European Crisis: Can Polanyi help us understand problems of the Eurozone?

All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace

By evoking economic turmoil in Europe, the global crisis of 2007-2008 had important impacts on the economic and political integration of the European Union (EU), leading to a reassessment of the relationship between the coreperiphery countries and the model of the 'democratic European welfare state.' Most studies that address this problem in the EU focus on the fiscal mismanagement and welfare policies of the non-core or periphery countries (i.e. Greece) as the main culprit. Unlike the mainstream ideas, this paper explains the recent European crisis as a result of the liberalization and deregulation process that started with the second globalization wave in the 1970s. This paper also questions whether the recent radical nationalist trend in the EU countries can be explained as a byproduct of the crisis, using Polanyi's notion of "double movement".

Causes and Consequences of Crisis in the Eurozone Periphery

Crisis in the Eurozone Periphery, 2019

This chapter discusses the impact of austerity policies on Greek politics and attempts to identify patterns of continuity and change in the post-1974 era. The first part maps the evolution of politics in Greece, with a focus on the development of the clientelistic state, which shaped state policies largely based on political cost. The second part discusses the changes occurring post-2010, including the decline of the socialist PASOK in favour of the rise of fringe populist parties. It is argued that the political and social turmoil created by the austerity measures adopted have been conditioned by the already existing particular brand of populist and clientelistic governance, which stood at the core of the country's party political system at least since the 1980s. Keywords (separated by "-") Greek crisis-SYRIZA-Populism-Clientelism-Austerity AUTHOR QUERIES Q1 Please check if identified author names (forename and surname) and affiliation details (Organization name, city, country) are correct. Q2 Please check if the Abstract and keywords given are fine.

Greece and the European Union Neo-liberalism and Its Discontents

In the first part of the present paper we shortly review the current situation in Greece, revealing the internal causes -recent and long-standing -as well as the origins relating to the global systemic crisis of our time. Subsequently, we discuss EU's recent transformation, from the new-Keynesian co-operation to the neo-liberal monetary Union. How did a period of convergence result into a period of diverging per capita income and deepening inequality in the member states? Why "price equalization" occurred prior to the equalization of income? How did the "European Acquis" for democratic legitimation convert into decisions taken by the majority of the participating funds (for instance in case of ESM)? Based on that, in the third part, we take a closer look into the positive/negative, direct/indirect effects on Greece, given the country's inconsistencies. Finally, conclude and we discuss specific policy alternatives, as well as proposals for further relevant research. (5.501 words)

The ‘Greek Crisis’ and the Austerity Controversy in Europe

2017

The authors maintain that shortly after the outbreak of the 2008 global economic crisis, Greece functioned as a ‘guinea pig’ for shaping the second phase of the project of European Unification. The strategic target of European economic and political elites is to deepen and render irreversible the neoliberal policy framework all over Europe. European authorities argue that this policy framework will promote ‘competitiveness’, which shall reflect in a positive current account balance and a process of export-oriented growth. However, the authors argue that many prominent economists see austerity-led European current account surpluses as the main mechanism creating global imbalances and retarding growth. Nevertheless, these criticisms can hardly explain why neoliberal strategies persist despite ‘failures’. In this chapter, the authors attempt to formulate an answer to this discrepancy on the basis of a Marxist analysis.

1 From an Economic Crisis to a Crisis of European Integration 1

2014

The crisis in the periphery of the EU is frequently addressed as crises of excess government debt (neo-classical theory) or of current account imbalances (Keynesian approach). In the paper we adopt a critical regulationist perspective in order to analyse the political economy of economic crisis and responses to it in Europe. A modified regulation approach allows analysing the transformations of structural forms at different scales. In addition, we adapt the regulation approach in order to classify the regimes of accumulation in the periphery and the core of the European Union. This allows analysing the asymmetric interaction of different

Different patient, same medicine: the EU as a neoliberal agent of change in Bulgaria and Greece in times of crisis.

2019

This thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of the European Union’s new economic governance through its role in Bulgaria and Greece. It focuses specifically on its functioning and the impact of the policies it promotes on socioeconomic rights. Using a Neo-Gramscian approach and Stephen Gill’s concept of new constitutionalism this study has shown how the EU economic governance regime has evolved into a strict institutional setup with strong neoliberal tendencies that dramatically restricts the macroeconomic policy choices of member and candidate sates. In the process, the new constitutionalist phenomena manifests itself as soft from the Maastricht treaty to the 2010 sovereign debt crisis, as authoritarian imposing bailouts in Greece and as reinforced through the new mechanisms of fiscal surveillance and enforcement from 2011 to the present. Finally, this thesis found that the current EU economic governance institutions pose a serious threat not only to the enjoyment of socioeconomic rights but also to the concept of socioeconomic rights as actual entitlements.