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Purpose This paper aims to briefly review the literature on interest rate convergence and the European debt crisis with a special focus on the current fiscal problems of some governments in Europe.Design/methodology/approach Relevant empirical papers are identified and reviewed focusing on time series analysis techniques.Findings The introduction of the euro has caused interest rate convergence among European Monetary Union (EMU) government bond yields. However, now sovereign credit risk and possibly even redenomination risk have caused divergences in European bond markets.Research limitations/implications A major limitation is that a relatively new field of the literature is surveyed. However, there are enough papers of relevance. This review paper could therefore be helpful in finding new approaches for additional empirical research examining the EMU bond market.Originality/value The results of empirical studies in a relatively new field of the literature are summarized. There meanwhile are some relevant papers. A brief survey of the results of these papers is provided. Important empirical findings with regard to interest rate convergence, sovereign credit risk and redenomination risk in the EMU are discussed and evaluated. The review is especially helpful for researchers and practitioners in the field of managerial finance and risk managers in the financial services industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2014 European elections led to a sharp rise in the electoral consensus of parties and independent parliament members perceived as eurosceptic. This paper analyzes the interconnections between distressed economies and the electoral success of hard-line eurosceptic parties. On a panel of 108 elections between 2008 and 2015, the random-effects model shows the relative effect of long- and short-term political trust, economic performance indicators, and institutional variables in determining the rise of hard-line eurosceptic parties. In contrast with previous studies, which have tended to de-emphasize the effect of economic performance in determining the success of eurosceptic forces, the results of this paper detect both a direct and a mediated effect of the economic crisis on the electoral success of hard-line eurosceptic parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wave of privatisation is unfolding in Europe in the wake of the financial crisis, but it has yet to receive serious scholarly attention. This paper examines the case of Ireland, where an austerity strategy and European Union International Monetary Fund bailout conditionality have given impetus to the transfer of public assets to the private sector. Theoretically, the paper explains the roots of the phenomenon with reference to a reformulated concept of 'accumulation by dispossession' whose usefulness lies in emphasising the politico-economic drivers of privatisation, which have been neglected in the mainstream literature. A typology is presented that argues that accumulation by dispossession manifests itself, in practice, through four main processes: (1) private repossession of assets nationalised during the financial crisis; (2) restructuring of state-owned enterprises; (3) commodification of assets and services hitherto located outside the market; and (4) privatised stimulus through public-private partnerships. The paper's framework should be useful to conceptualise ongoing privatisation processes in other European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population ageing, together with the negative effects of the recent economic and financial crisis that some European countries are still facing, have threatened the sustainability of public pension systems. In this context, voluntary private pensions have emerged as the most feasible alternative to supplement the minimum provided by Social Security Systems; however, this financial product does not enjoy its expected popularity. A potential explanation of this reality might be due to the fact that European countries are far from being homogeneous, nor their pensions systems. Therefore, any policy geared toward improving financial retirement planning should take into account these potential differences. As a first approach to their analysis, this paper proposes the existence of four different ‘social models’ in Europe -namely, Continental, Mediterranean, Nordic and Transitional-. Overall, empirical evidence confirmed the significant influence of country’ ‘social model’ on the decision to invest in retirement accounts on a sample of 31,468 individuals in 2013. It was also proved that this decision is positively related to age, household income and wealth, higher levels of formal education, job situation, good health status, and long-term planning horizons; and negatively related to age squared, household size or financial risk aversion. In short, future policies and reforms regarding private pensions should not only take into account the existence of individual differences among Europeans, but also the existence of differences depending on institutional and cultural country factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2013 it was declared that 'the eurozone crisis is over'. However, in fact, the series of financial crises since 2008 may have interrupted the process of EMU enlargement, which in turn triggered a continuing crisis of confidence in the euro. In this paper we extend the sigma-convergence test to provide a more precise understanding of real interest rate parity ( RIP) convergence. On the basis of this, we predict the timing for eliminating the cost of economic asymmetric shocks. Our estimation indicates the RIP among EMU members and accessions were still valid after the disruptions of the 2008 financial crisis. However, the situation has been even worse since the 2010 European sovereign debt crisis, and ceteris paribus, symmetry cannot be achieved without further policy actions. This implies that the EMU authority must do its best to strengthen symmetry and thereby solidify the EMU, at which point it will be better able to re-start the process of enlargement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health systems in Europe were hit by the economic crisis to various degrees. Evidence from worst affected countries shows detrimental consequences for health systems and health outcomes. EU member states face an increased risk of cross-border health threats given the growing difficulties to prevent and control infectious disease outbreaks with resources limited by cuts to public spending on health. Although health systems constitute a core national competence, the crisis has triggered the extension of EU economic surveillance over this field. The related debate focuses on the added value of EU action to support health systems in coping with the crisis challenges vs. the constraints imposed by stricter EU fiscal governance on national health policymakers. This paper provides an analysis of the changes triggered by the economic crisis. The analysis focuses on the EU level, exploring the changes in the output of EU institutions and their (possible) implications for health systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The European crisis is the best case study for examining both the vulnerabilities of Europe's framework for economic governance and the very process of European integration itself. This statement is true for several reasons: first, because the European crisis is the most serious crisis the European Union has faced to date; second, because of the crisis, limits on the process of economic integration in Europe have been put to a real test; and third, because the main causes of the crisis are tied into the framework for economic governance that has been developed over the last few decades and therefore are connected to the very process of European unification itself. The primary aim of this paper is to demonstrate whether and to what extent the new framework for economic governance in Europe is largely a result of interstate bargaining and consequently whether national preferences continue to play an important role in the framework's general transformation. The economic crisis showed that important issues in economic policy concerning the change in economic governance and the role of the nation-state, which were ‘swept under the carpet’ in recent decades, must be resolved to make the European venture viable. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyses the determinants of people’s support for European institutions, mainly focusing on the impact of European identity, after the economic crisis and in a moment in which – after profound uncertainty for its immediate future – there is a new feeling toward European integration. Previous research on support for European institutions, before the economic and financial crisis which had hit Europe since 2008, found that people’s evaluations followed mainly an instrumental logic – support being contingent on a perception of personal or national benefit accruing for EU membership – with an additional role played by European identification. This contribution expands the analysis after the beginning of the economic crisis, so to assess whether the former has affected the structure of such support, and deepens the analysis of the impact of EU identity on European institutional confidence. Using a recent Eurobarometer survey (86.2, 2016) and combining both individual and contextual data, the paper shows that European identity plays a crucial role in explaining European support also after the crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper summarises a collaborative international research project comparing the impact of the ongoing conglomerate of crises in nine EU policies. All of them saw significant crisis-induced pressures and challenges. Beyond changes in discourse, the crisis-induced pressures have, in many areas, also triggered a rather sizable amount of policy change. Considering EU competences, no single example of re-nationalisation was found, but many new EU-level tasks. The governments were of prime importance in immediate crisis management but supranational institutions and processes continue to matter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Until very recently, European employers and political leaders denied the need for any coordination in industrial relations at EU level. In 2011, however, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a new European economic governance regime that makes EU member states' labor policies subject to multilateral surveillance procedures. This paper analyzes this ‘silent revolution’ from above and assesses organized labor's responses to this challenge. It shows that the EU's new governance regime does not follow the classical model of a federal state, but rather the governance structures of multinational corporations that control their local subsidiaries through the use of whipsawing tactics and coercive comparisons. European trade unions' and social movements' difficulties in politicizing European economic governance are thus best explained by the ability of the new supranational EU regime to nationalize social conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In January 2011, the European Union established three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) for the financial sector: the European Banking Authority (EBA, in London), the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA, in Frankfurt) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA, in Paris). So far, the ESAs have played less a supervisory role than a regulatory role. They have focused on technical measures specifying in more detail the often abstract legislation adopted by the European Parliament and the Council. These measures may be binding technical standards or non-binding guidelines or recommendations. They are of great importance, to both financial and non-financial industry. Currently, the European Commission is reviewing the regulations governing the three ESAs and will bring forward its proposals for amendments in early 2015. This paper entails 12 recommendations to policymakers for improving the ESAs' work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of a cross-national economic crisis, questions about democratic legitimacy are again topical. We explore the question of democratic legitimacy in Portugal and Greece by employing the conceptual differentiation between diffuse and specific regime support. Our findings indicate that while specific support has fallen in both countries, only Greece has experienced a precipitous fall in diffuse support, suggesting a link between regime performance and support for democracy. Individual-level analyses do not reveal any clear patterns concerning the impact of long-term societal factors or short-term economic considerations. Due to data quality limitations the paper has a predominately exploratory nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic and financial crisis opened a window of opportunity to place the Single Market back on top of the European agenda as part of a two-tiered crisis response, which also included reinforced financial supervision and economic co-ordination. We argue that the Commission acted as a 'purposeful opportunist' in both tiers; but whereas in economic governance issues there was breakthrough change in the Commission's achievements and competences, in the Single Market realm policy change was fairly modest. Using process tracing analysis our goal is to explain why the Commission did not succeed in furthering a genuine Single Market reform. Our findings suggest that the Commission's entrepreneurship was constrained by the limited salience of Single Market issues in the crisis context and by the lack of actual political commitment from the other relevant stakeholders. Thus, our research highlights the limits of the Commission's opportunistic behaviour in less advantageous circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the fast growth of consumption, the promotion of purchasing green products could be a way to minimize the environmental impact and achieve the sustainable consumption. Considering that there is a lack of studies about green purchase behavior and its determinants in all European Union countries (EU), the aim of this paper is to evaluate the main determinants of green purchase behavior by applying the Theory of Planned Behavior. Referring to Hostefe's cultural dimensions we revealed how cultural aspects contribute to purchase behavior. The results showed that there were observed big differences in terms of green purchase behavior in the EU countries and it did not depend on economic development significantly. The subjective norms and interaction of knowledge and confidence in green products significantly determined the green purchase behavior in all countries. According to the cross-culture studies, all cultural dimensions did not have significant influence on green purchase behavior. However, cultural dimensions are related to factors which directly influence green purchase behavior. Therefore, due to the process of the EU cultural convergence and economic crisis, it could have indirect impact on green purchase behavior. These findings have important implication for marketers and policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Central Bank (ECB) has received a lot of criticism for its too little, too late performance to ease market pressures during the economic crisis. At the same time, the ECB and the Federal Reserve (Fed) have managed the new economic realities that have emerged in the international context differently. Despite the criticisms, the European Central Bank is the European Union institution that has assumed more control due to the new model of economic governance of the EU. Why did the Federal Reserve act so nimbly and quickly to calm the markets, while the ECB was so cautious in managing monetary policy? The aim of this paper is to perform a comparative analysis of the management of interest rates and other monetary policy measures undertaken by the Central Bank and the Federal Reserve during the economic crisis, as well as to understand the changes in the context of the ECB and the emergence of its authority within the European Union's economic governance model since 2011. Thus, in order to carry out a scrupulous exposition, we will also limit the time frame of this study to the 2007-2014 period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revue d'Economie Politique is the property of Editions Dalloz Sirrey and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The current European economic crisis changes radically the structure of present and future employment, the political agenda and the adoption of appropriate economic policy means in the whole Europe. This is mostly true for southern European countries that were hit hard by economic crisis and thus raising questions about the appropriate policy mix required in supporting employment. In Greece, for example, the problem of unprecedented large unemployment (27 %) by summer 2013, is an urgent issue dominating in all current discussions related to adoption of the best economic policy means. Often, these discussions are focused on some general macroeconomic policy suggestions that are not based on a microeconomic analysis of how firms are affected by economic crisis, not only, in the same sector, but also, in different sectors of the economy. In this study, we explore the determinants of job creation and job destruction using a large and comprehensive panel data set of Greek manufacturing firms, covering the time period 2004 - 2011 and distinguishing between the pre-crisis (2004-2007) and post-crisis (2008-2011) period. Our study reveals that, although the crisis has indeed a substantial negative effect on employment growth in all sectors of Greek manufacturing, some sectors (such as food products) are less affected compared to others (especially textiles, wearing apparel and leather products). Thus, our results suggest that a discretionary microeconomic policy that could encourage production and exports, with such measures as tax reductions, investment subsidies, export grants, etc., in favour of the less affected sectors could contribute to reducing large unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Spanish Journal of Finance & Accounting / Revista Espanola de Financiacion y Contabilidad is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In their introduction to this special issue, the editors mentioned that the commodification of labour is one important feature of capitalism. Hence, the reaction of the principal organizations that represent and defend labour needed to be explored. This article focuses on Belgian and German trade unions' apprehensions of European integration during the 1970s and sheds lights on two major findings. First, trade unions' perceptions of European integration were very clearly influenced by the condition and the evolution of capitalism. National trade unions observed that the transformations of capitalism could not be adequately addressed by national polities and industrial relations structures. Hence, trade unions heavily insisted on the necessity of political and trade unionist European cooperation. The latter is considered a necessary intermediary to allow labour to counterbalance the new forms of capital and to regain the influence it lost nationally. The second finding is that there existed a huge paradox between this enduring rhetoric of the necessity of European integration and the willingness of trade unions to give up some of their national prerogatives. The evolving forms of capitalism made it imperative to cooperate more at the supranational level but trade unions remained very much reluctant national institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collapse in GDP brought about by the global economic crisis in 2008 affected female employment less than male employment, whereas austerity has been particularly harsh on women, a gendered impact described in the literature as "he-cession to sh(e)-austerity". This article analyses gendered trends in the labour markets of eight European countries, decomposing quarterly changes in labour participation of women and men and in employment by sector. The "hecession to sh(e)-austerity" scenario is not observed in all countries. Other channels through which austerity policies can jeopardize gender equality and women's rights are identified with reference to a typology of such policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop a model for analyzing the sovereign debt crises of 2010-2013 in the Eurozone. The government sets its expenditure-debt policy optimally. The need to sell large quantities of bonds every period leaves the government vulnerable to self-fulfilling crises in which investors, anticipating a crisis, are unwilling to buy the bonds, thereby provoking the crisis. In this situation, the optimal policy of the government is to reduce its debt to a level where crises are not possible. If, however, the economy is in a recession where there is a positive probability of recovery in fiscal revenues, the government also has an incentive to smooth consumption and increase debt. Our exercise identifies conditions on fundamentals for which the incentive to smooth consumption dominates, giving rise to a situation where governments optimally 'gamble for redemption,' running fiscal deficits and increasing their debt, thereby increasing their vulnerability to crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and costly debt restructurings in Greece and Argentina, the sovereign debt restructuring regime (SDRR) has been reformed in a number of ways. Taken together, these reforms have had a mixed impact in comparison to existing governance arrangements put in place during the early 2000s: changes to IMF lending rules have weakened the regime, reforms to sovereign bond contracts have strengthened it, and a UN-centred initiative to construct a new multilateral debt restructuring framework has had little impact in either direction. The pattern of post-2008 change reveals that reforms focusing on pre-defined rules to trigger debt restructuring (the IMF lending reforms) areless likely to succeed than those focused on the process of restructuring once the decision to restructure has been taken (contract reforms). It also shows that efforts to build comprehensive, multilateral legal frameworks for debt restructuring (the initial goal of the UN initiative) face enormous obstacles. At a more theoretical level, the post-2008 experience highlights the enduring power of the United States and leading European states to shape outcomes in this sector, as well as the need to embrace eclectic theoretical frameworks in analysing the complicated politics of SDRR reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accounts of crisis in Europe have proliferated since late 2009. This article investigates the relationship between the diagnosis of crisis and the cohesion and enlargement of the 'European project' in the context of Southeastern Europe. The article adoptsMichel Foucault's understanding of diagnosis as a strategic activity of language in order to re-construct the diagnostic discourse in relation to ongoing events in Greece and the Republic of Macedonia. Diagnostic practice produces accounts of crisis that are clinical, moralising, and prescriptive, affixing meanings to complex and overdetermined events in order that they can be acted upon. Diagnoses of the crises in Greece and Macedonia converge in their identification of political and cultural features of the national political economy in need of expert correction. The diagnosis of crisis emerges as an essential feature of European Union governmentality, which functions to delimit the bounds of political contestation in times of uncertainty and upheaval in favor of technocratic interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the Eurozone crisis has brought about two transformations in the basic rules of the EU economic constitution: the acceptance of public financial assistance to Eurozone Member States and the replacement of market discipline of domestic economies by bureaucratic discipline. Treating the measures adopted during the crisis and especially the response of the ECJ in Pringle and Gauweiler as constitutional transformations makes it possible to develop a narrative of the crisis that avoids two popular and opposing approaches that lead to a dead end: the wholesale acceptance of the legality of the measures adopted during the crisis on one hand, or their dismissal as simply illegal deviations from the EU constitutional framework on the other. In order to develop this constitutional narrative, the article borrows the theme framed by Weiler in his seminal article "The Transformation of Europe" and develops a constitutional interpretation of the moral hazard concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reads the current Eurocrisis going far beyond the classical linear explanations of the dualism between an imperialist core and a victimised periphery. Instead, it mobilises the concepts of social capital and of global imperialist chain to demonstrate the continuum between the agendas of the dominant classes in both the core and the periphery and the use of intergovernmental regional organisations as privileged tools for their strategies of exposing national capitals to international competition. Seen from this point of view, the current Eurocrisis is something far more complex than a mere exercise of domination of a major power (Germany, in this case) over peripheral economies: it is part of a strategy of redesigning the traditional model of welfare state, in which the Euro and the European Monetary Union work as dispositives of an hegemonic approach useful for the national bourgeoisies of the entire European space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ayer: Revista de Historia Contemporánea is the property of Asociacion de Historia Contemporanea and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Politics & Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

What has been the impact of the European Union (EU)’s multifaceted crisis on asylum law and policy development? The article argues that the EU has sought to safeguard the core of its asylum policy by adding new layers of policy instruments in response to both the financial and economic crisis post-2008 and the refugee crisis starting in 2015. These instruments have had the overarching aim of providing EU member states facing high migratory pressures and/or financial constraints with additional support. Their efficiency, however, has remained questionable, reflected by a widening gap between the EU’s asylum laws and actual asylum practices of member states. By avoiding a paradigm shift in asylum policy, the EU has come to face a difficult situation: the implementation of the existing EU asylum rules may overburden southern member states while the perpetuated ignorance of these rules risks overburdening northern member states. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An important element of the EU policy discourse during times of crisis has been a call to invest more in research and innovation as sources of future growth. To study the effects of crisis in this policy area, this article draws on an analysis of expert interviews, policy documents and relevant literature. It argues that the crisis has led to incremental and path-dependent changes in EU policy instruments and priorities. To respond to the crisis, EU research and innovation policy has focused on two main issues. Firstly, it has aimed to facilitate structural reforms and to increase the level, quality and efficiency of public and private investments in research and innovation at the national level. Secondly, the EU has increased its own research and innovation funding. These decisions have involved compromises between the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council and stakeholder organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article reviews the crisis-induced reforms of financial market regulation in the European Union (EU) from the perspective of the joint-decision trap and the orders of change frameworks. It argues that although the legislative response of the EU was quick and substantial, most reforms were lower-order changes that expanded existing regulatory tools and introduced several new ones. Only the banking union can be classified as a paradigmatic change, because its adoption required overcoming a long-lasting joint-decision trap. The crisis had changed the default condition of this trap by threatening a Eurozone break-up, which induced member states to reconsider their policy preferences and accept the supranationalisation of banking supervision that they have been refusing for two decades. Therefore, the lasting institutional consequence of the crisis will be the empowerment of supranational actors, especially the European Central Bank. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The euro crisis and a new debate about immigration in Europe have undermined support for the EU while the unsolved Greek debt problems as well as the ECB's quantitative easing policy have raised new crucial policy issues. It is necessary to identify the key issues of Eurozone stabilization and to clarify the economic benefits from monetary integration. As regards the economic welfare analysis of the euro, the new model presented shows the benefits of the euro's reserve currency position, namely in the framework of a neoclassical growth model with seigniorage based on international reserve holdings. Discounted benefits are about 10,000 € per capita in a stable Euro area. Thus the benefits are bigger than often considered, at the same time one may raise the question of whether the existing institutional setting of the Eurozone is sufficient for achieving long-term stability and prosperity. As regards the envisaged third rescue package for Greece it is emphasized that a haircut of public creditors along with adoption of a Greek capital levy plus privatization efforts are required to achieve debt sustainability and growth. The traditional interpretation of subsidiarity in the EU is found to be misleading and the vertical division of politics is destabilizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic crisis and the resulting need for austerity budgets have divided many governing parties and coalitions in Europe despite strong party discipline in the legislative voting on these harsh budgets. We measure these divisions using automated text analysis methods to scale the positions that legislators express in budget debates in an effort to avoid punishment by voters for supporting austerity measures while still adhering to strict party discipline by voting along party lines. Our test case is Ireland, a country that has experienced periods of rapid economic growth as well as one deep financial and economic crisis. Tracking dissent from 1987 to 2013, we show that austerity measures undermine government cohesion as verbal opposition markedly increases in direct response to the economic pain felt in a legislator's constituency. The economic vulnerability of a legislator's constituency also directly explains position taking on austerity budgets among both government and opposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bulk of the literature on 'social Europe' has suggested that social policy at the level of the EU remains to be characterized by the interplay of courts and markets. While we do not disagree with this argument, our objective is to shed light on the European Commission's entrepreneurship, an element which appears to be somewhat bereft of scholarly attention. We show how, by displaying social acuity, defining problems and building teams, the Commission has actively promoted a policy agenda focused on liberal market building at the expense of socially minded regulation. This was however only made possible by a new constellation among the Member States after 2004. We substantiate this claim by documenting the activity of the Commission in two crucial policy domains of the post-Lisbon era: the liberalization of service provision, and the impact of the new macro-economic governance on social policy after the financial and debt crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the implications of understanding ' Europeanization' as a complex, dynamic and troubled translation process. It discusses post-communist welfare in the context of variegated forms of austerity capitalism in the EU. In particular, the complex relationships between modalities of welfare, the uneven development of neo-liberalisms and the multi-scalar restructuring of welfare assemblages, are discussed in the context of the reframing of relationships between the economic, the political and the social in a period of deep crisis and austerity. Post-communist Europe cannot be conceived as a flattened map or a singular regime type. Rather, diverse and often contradictory restructurings operate in different places at different times, and political agency continues to matter. Comparing and contrasting the changing relationships between neo-liberalism, authoritarian populism and ethnicized nationalism in Hungary and Croatia provides a more nuanced understanding of the variable geometries of transnational translations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of economic crisis, Europe has witnessed a spate of extraordinary political measures pressed by executive discretion. This article examines what emergency rule of this kind implies for the possibility of normal rule thereafter. Political decision-makers face the challenge of drawing a line under the crisis so that the unconventional measures used to handle it do not compromise the polity's norms in lasting fashion. Based on an analysis of the preconditions for plausibly making such an act of separation, I suggest the principal resources for doing so in the EU case are missing. Emergency rule will tend to blend in with normal rule, to the detriment of the political order's legitimate authority. A more dubiously grounded 'descriptive' authority may conversely be enhanced by emergency rule, as may compliance for instrumental motivations, producing a polity that is stable even if weakly legitimate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2008, euro area governments instituted fiscal stimulus to counteract the shock of the Global Financial Crisis. In 2010, they changed tack and pursued consolidation. East Asia also implemented stimulus in response to its 1997-98 financial crisis but, unlike Europe, continued fiscal expansion until growth recovered. The baseline difference between the average growth rate of the east Asian countries and the European Periphery/GIIPS prior to their respective crises was 4.21 percentage points. This difference widens to 7.18 percentage points following the European pivot to austerity in region-specific crisis event time. Panel regressions confirm the statistical significance of this 2.97 percentage point increase in the difference-in-difference estimate suggesting that more gradual fiscal consolidation in the GIIPS might have promoted stronger recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orthodox integration scholarship failed to identify the factors leading to the euro area (EA) economic and financial crisis because of weaknesses that Horkheimer identified in ‘traditional’ theory: disciplinary splits and a tendency to idealize from particular instrumental perspectives. By contrast, critical political economy offered a plausible and coherent elucidation of the emergent properties and limits of finance-led capitalism and their concrete manifestation in the EA. This contribution both reviews state-of-the-art critical political economy research on the EA crisis and makes a distinct contribution to it. In addressing the puzzle of why not only the Economic and Monetary Union persists despite morbid symptoms but why crisis management is extending and deepening a discredited finance-led capitalism, the contribution synthesizes theories of transnational class formation and inter-state relations, and proposes that Europe is caught in an ordoliberal iron cage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]