Book contents
- The Crisis behind the Eurocrisis
- The Crisis behind the Eurocrisis
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction The Elephant in the Room
- 1 There Is No (Legal) Alternative
- Part I The Crisis as a Crisis of the EU’s Identity
- 2 The Roots of the European Crisis
- 3 The End of Self-fulfilling Europe
- 4 The Authoritarian Neoliberalism of the EU
- Part II The Crisis as a Crisis of the EU’s Political and Democratic Legitimacy
- Part III The Crisis as a Crisis of the EU’s Economic Model
- Part IV The Crisis as a Crisis of the EU’s Social Character
- Part V Joining the Dots and the Way Forward
- Index
3 - The End of Self-fulfilling Europe
from Part I - The Crisis as a Crisis of the EU’s Identity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 July 2019
- The Crisis behind the Eurocrisis
- The Crisis behind the Eurocrisis
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction The Elephant in the Room
- 1 There Is No (Legal) Alternative
- Part I The Crisis as a Crisis of the EU’s Identity
- 2 The Roots of the European Crisis
- 3 The End of Self-fulfilling Europe
- 4 The Authoritarian Neoliberalism of the EU
- Part II The Crisis as a Crisis of the EU’s Political and Democratic Legitimacy
- Part III The Crisis as a Crisis of the EU’s Economic Model
- Part IV The Crisis as a Crisis of the EU’s Social Character
- Part V Joining the Dots and the Way Forward
- Index
Summary
Much of the criticism levelled against European policymakers since the eurocrisis has centred around the claim that the adoption of a common currency was an essentially political project which courted disaster by decoupling monetary from political integration. According to what has become a popular narrative, the European leadership chose political grandstanding and symbolism over pragmatism in recklessly pushing forward with a fatally deficient scheme of monetary union. Little wonder, then, that the hubris of political fiat found its nemesis in the hard facts of economics.
I shall argue that this narrative is in many ways incomplete as it leaves out entirely the intellectual background to the steps that have furthered the development of the EU. From the 1950s, the integration process has been underpinned, or at least accompanied and justified, by what might be called the theory of ‘self-fulfilling Europe’: the idea that economic integration, once set in motion, can remove political resistance to European unification by creating factual interdependence and a consciousness of solidarity.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Crisis behind the EurocrisisThe Eurocrisis as a Multidimensional Systemic Crisis of the EU, pp. 67 - 88Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019