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Monetary union, fiscal crisis and the preemption of democracy

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  • Scharpf, Fritz W.

Abstract

The European Monetary Union (EMU) has removed crucial instruments of macroeconomic management from the control of democratically accountable governments. Worse still, the EMU has systemically caused destabilizing macroeconomic imbalances that member states found difficult or impossible to counteract with their remaining policy instruments. And even though the international financial crisis had its origins beyond Europe, the EMU has greatly increased the vulnerability of some member states to its repercussions. Its effects have undermined the economic and fiscal viability of some EMU member states and have frustrated political demands and expectations to an extent that may yet transform the economic crisis into a crisis of democratic legitimacy. Moreover, present efforts by EMU governments to "rescue the euro" will do little to correct the economic imbalances and vulnerabilities, but are likely to deepen economic problems and political alienation in both the rescued and the rescuing polities.

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  • Scharpf, Fritz W., 2011. "Monetary union, fiscal crisis and the preemption of democracy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 53448, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:53448
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    Cited by:

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    2. Reto Bürgisser & Donato Di Carlo, 2023. "Blessing or Curse? The Rise of Tourism‐Led Growth in Europe's Southern Periphery," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 236-258, January.
    3. 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.
    4. Sebastian Dellepiane & Niamh Hardiman, 2012. "The New Politics of Austerity: Fiscal Responses to the Economic Crisis in Ireland and Spain," Working Papers 201207, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    5. Zeilbeck, Severin, 2015. "An investment initiative for fiscally constrained EU member states: The role of synergetic financial instruments," IPE Working Papers 58/2015, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    6. Cristina Fernández & Pilar García Perea, 2015. "The impact of the euro on euro area GDP per capita," Working Papers 1530, Banco de España.
    7. Nikitas Konstantinidis & Konstantinos Matakos & Hande Mutlu-Eren, 2019. "“Take back control”? The effects of supranational integration on party-system polarization," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 297-333, June.
    8. Sebastian Dellepiane & Niamh Hardiman & Jon Las Heras, 2013. "Building on easy money:The political economy of housing bubbles in Ireland and Spain," Working Papers 201318, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    9. Bulbarelli, Miriam, 2016. "The housing finance system in Italy and Spain: Why did a housing bubble develop in Spain - and not in Italy?," PIPE - Papers on International Political Economy 26/2016, Free University Berlin, Center for International Political Economy.
    10. Bodo Herzog, 2021. "Hidden Blemish in European Law: Judgements on Unconventional Monetary Programmes," Laws, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-13, March.
    11. V. Sidenko, 2017. "The crisis processes in the EU development: origins and prospects," Economy and Forecasting, Valeriy Heyets, issue 1, pages 7-30.
    12. Scharpf, Fritz W., 2018. "There is an alternative: A two-tier European currency community," MPIfG Discussion Paper 18/7, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    13. Markantonatou, Maria, 2013. "Diagnosis, treatment, and effects of the crisis in Greece: A 'special case' or a 'test case'?," MPIfG Discussion Paper 13/3, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    14. Lopes, Luís & Antunes, Margarida, 2016. "From budgetary instrument to the budgetary objective: The Portuguese case," IPE Working Papers 79/2016, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    15. Costas Lapavitsas & Sergi Cutillas, 2022. "National states, transnational institutions, and hegemony in the EU," Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 429-448, April.
    16. Dermot Hodson, 2019. "The New Intergovernmentalism and the Euro Crisis: A Painful Case?," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 145, European Institute, LSE.
    17. Federica Genovese & Gerald Schneider, 2020. "Smoke with fire: Financial crises and the demand for parliamentary oversight in the European Union," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 633-665, July.
    18. Krahé, Max, 2023. "Understanding Italy's stagnation," Papers 277913, Dezernat Zukunft - Institute for Macrofinance, Berlin.
    19. Giandomenico Majone, 2014. "From Regulatory State to a Democratic Default," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(6), pages 1216-1223, November.
    20. Kristijan Kotarski & Luka Brkic, 2017. "Political Economy of Banking and Debt Crisis in the EU: Rising Financialization and its Ramifications," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 49(3), pages 430-455, September.
    21. Dorothee Bohle, 2017. "Mortgaging Europe’s periphery," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 124, European Institute, LSE.

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