IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jcmkts/v54y2016i1p53-69.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Regulation Theory and the Political Economy of the European Union

Author

Listed:
  • Hans-Jürgen Bieling
  • Johannes Jäger
  • Magnus Ryner

Abstract

European integration theory considers to what extent the EU can realize a telos where American pluralism is the template. Not without merits, but considering the financial and eurozone crises fatally, such perspectives elide power relations and attendant contradictions and irrationalities that are constitutive of transatlantic integration itself. Regulation theory, which synthesizes the reformist ethos of Europe's postwar statist tradition and Marxism, and which has produced a considerable body of analysis of the EU published at the margins of EU scholarship, offers a compelling alternative that potentially overcomes these shortcomings. This article critically assesses how regulation theory has interpreted the single market, financial liberalization and EMU as a suppression of alternatives to neoliberal post-Fordism, or finance-led accumulation, in Europe. It argues that understanding the EU's current conjuncture of eurozone crisis management requires a neo-Gramscian extension of regulation theory, stressing transnational patterns of capitalist accumulation and power relations.

Suggested Citation

  • Hans-Jürgen Bieling & Johannes Jäger & Magnus Ryner, 2016. "Regulation Theory and the Political Economy of the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 53-69, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:54:y:2016:i:1:p:53-69
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/jcms.12331
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lipietz, Alain, 1989. "Debt problem, european integration and the new phase of world crisis (the)," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Couverture Orange) 8924, CEPREMAP.
    2. Ian Manners & Richard Whitman, 2016. "Another Theory is Possible: Dissident Voices in Theorising Europe," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 3-18, January.
    3. Nikolai Huke & Mònica Clua-Losada & David J. Bailey, 2015. "Disrupting the European Crisis: A Critical Political Economy of Contestation, Subversion and Escape," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(5), pages 725-751, October.
    4. Engelbert Stockhammer, 2011. "Peripheral Europe's debt and German wages: the role of wage policy in the Euro area," International Journal of Public Policy, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 7(1/2/3), pages 83-96.
    5. Andreas Bieler, 2005. "European Integration and the Transnational Restructuring of Social Relations: The Emergence of Labour as a Regional Actor?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 461-484, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christian Scholz‐Alvarado, 2022. "The Politics of Labour that Underlies European Monetary Integration," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(5), pages 1374-1390, September.
    2. Lartey, Theophilus & Uddin, Moshfique & Danso, Albert & Wood, Geoffrey, 2022. "CEO overconfidence and IRS attention," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    3. Heidebrecht, Sebastian, 2024. "Digital Policy and the Strengthened Role of the European Central Executive. An Introductory Overview," OSF Preprints kwrzg, Center for Open Science.
    4. Claes Axel Belfrage & Markus Kallifatides, 2018. "The politicisation of macroprudential regulation: The critical Swedish case," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 50(3), pages 709-729, May.
    5. Buch-Hansen, Hubert, 2018. "The Prerequisites for a Degrowth Paradigm Shift: Insights from Critical Political Economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 157-163.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andreas Bieler & Jamie Jordan & Adam David Morton, 2019. "EU Aggregate Demand As a Way out of Crisis? Engaging the Post‐Keynesian Critique," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 805-822, July.
    2. Marta Silva & João Carlos Lopes, 2020. "The structural adjustment of the Portuguese economy in the context of the economic reform of the Eurozone," Working Papers REM 2020/0143, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    3. Hubert Gabrisch & Karsten Staehr, 2015. "The Euro Plus Pact: Competitiveness and External Capital Flows in the EU Countries," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 558-576, May.
    4. Christoffer Kølvraa, 2016. "European Fantasies: On the EU's Political Myths and the Affective Potential of Utopian Imaginaries for European Identity," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 169-184, January.
    5. Keita, Kady & Rabaud, Isabelle & Turcu, Camelia, 2023. "Fiscal outcomes, current account imbalances, and institutions in Europe: Exploring nonlinearities," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 121-134.
    6. Walter Paternesi Meloni, 2017. "Austerity & Competitiveness in the Eurozone: a misleading linkage," Departmental Working Papers of Economics - University 'Roma Tre' 0223, Department of Economics - University Roma Tre.
    7. Mavroudeas, Stavros D., 2015. "The Greek saga: competing explanations of the Greek crisis," Economics Discussion Papers 2015-1, School of Economics, Kingston University London.
    8. Rebecca Adler-Nissen, 2016. "Towards a Practice Turn in EU Studies: The Everyday of European Integration," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 87-103, January.
    9. Andrea Coveri & Mario Pianta, 2019. "The Structural Dynamics of Income Distribution:Technology, Wages and Profits," Working Papers 1901, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2019.
    10. Paternesi Meloni, Walter, 2016. "Austerity and competitiveness in the Eurozone: a misleading linkage," MPRA Paper 75962, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Scott Lavery & Davide Schmid, 2021. "European Integration and the New Global Disorder," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(5), pages 1322-1338, September.
    12. Walter Paternesi Meloni, 2018. "Italy’s Price Competitiveness: An Empirical Assessment Through Export Elasticities," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(3), pages 421-462, November.
    13. Johnston, Alison & Hancké, Bob & Pant, Suman, 2013. "Comparative institutional advantage in the European sovereign debt crisis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 53177, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Krenar Gashi, 2021. "Simulated Power and the Power of Simulations: The European Union in the Dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(2), pages 206-221, March.
    15. Hubert Gabrisch, 2015. "Net Capital Flows To And The Real Exchange Rate Of Western Balkan Countries," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 60(205), pages 31-52, April – J.
    16. Storm, Servaas & Naastepad, C.W.M., 2015. "Crisis and recovery in the German economy: The real lessons," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 11-24.
    17. Hein, Eckhard, 2012. "Finance-dominated capitalism, re-distribution and the financial and economic crises - a European perspective," MPRA Paper 35903, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Thomas Goda & Özlem Onaran & Engelbert Stockhammer, 2014. "A case for redistribution? Income inequality and wealth concentration in the recent crisis," Documentos de Trabajo de Valor Público 12186, Universidad EAFIT.
    19. S. Devrim Yilmaz & Burak Saltoglu, 2013. "Why is it so Difficult and Complex to Solve the Euro Problem?," Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series 180, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    20. Claudius Gräbner & Philipp Heimberger & Jakob Kapeller & Bernhard Schütz, 2017. "Is Europe disintegrating? Macroeconomic divergence, structural polarization, trade and fragility," Economics working papers 2017-15, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:54:y:2016:i:1:p:53-69. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0021-9886 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.