This book presents an overview of the economics and politics implemented in the European Union and especially the Eurozone during the crisis of 2008-2012. Although it focuses on these four years, the analysis starts from the establishment of the European Union and covers the period up to the outbreak of the Cypriot banking crisis in mid-2013. The long-term creation of structural changes in European economics and politics is associated with a growth lag within the global economic environment dynamics. The economic and political consequences of the crisis and the development of new institutions will shape the future growth dynamics towards a Fragmented European Federation.

European integration is not a priori positive or negative: it results from the interaction between various interests. During the past few years, however, it has been impossible to ignore increasingly strident claims that the European Union is in the midst of a crisis. According to this perspective, European institutions do not function well, democracy in the Union is flawed, eurozone problems have reached a critical point, and inward migration, which European institutions seem incapable of handling, is escalating. This book demonstrates that public choice theory can be a suitable analytical tool to examine the European integration process. It is based on the assumption that consumers, politicians and even nations are similarly concerned with their own interests (economic, political, and so on). Public choice theory enables us to 'de-idealize' the European integration process and see the interests of individual actors in the process more realistically. European integration does not occur because the actors are altruistic; rather, it comes about due to their rational pursuit of individual or group self-interests. European integration and other forms of globalization are not irreversible. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It remains a possibility that, after several decades of European integration, we are now entering an era of disintegration. This book will serve as a source of edification for academics, politicians, students, and experts, as well as the general public. It is designed to capture the interest of both graduate and postgraduate students of economics, political science and international relations.

Translated by Ciaran Cronin. In the midst of the current crisis that is threatening to derail the historical project of European unification, Jürgen Habermas has been one of the most perceptive critics of the ineffectual and evasive responses to the global financial crisis, especially by the German political class. This extended essay on the constitution for Europe represents Habermas’s constructive engagement with the European project at a time when the crisis of the eurozone is threatening the very existence of the European Union. There is a growing realization that the European treaty needs to be revised in order to deal with the structural defects of monetary union, but a clear perspective for the future is missing. Drawing on his analysis of European unification as a process in which international treaties have progressively taken on features of a democratic constitution, Habermas explains why the current proposals to transform the system of European governance into one of executive federalism is a mistake. His central argument is that the European project must realize its democratic potential by evolving from an international into a cosmopolitan community. The opening essay on the role played by the concept of human dignity in the genealogy of human rights in the modern era throws further important light on the philosophical foundations of Habermas’s theory of how democratic political institutions can be extended beyond the level of nation-states. Now that the question of Europe and its future is once again at the centre of public debate, this important intervention by one of the greatest thinkers of our time will be of interest to a wide readership.

This book presents an overview of the economics and politics implemented in the European Union and especially the Eurozone during the crisis of 2008-2012. Although it focuses on these four years, the analysis starts from the establishment of the European Union and covers the period up to the outbreak of the Cypriot banking crisis in mid-2013. The long-term creation of structural changes in European economics and politics is associated with a growth lag within the global economic environment dynamics. The economic and political consequences of the crisis and the development of new institutions will shape the future growth dynamics towards a Fragmented European Federation.

This book addresses contemporary and modern topics around business growth and economic development in Southeastern Europe. It covers a wide range of business issues focusing on the adoption of new technologies, finance of SMEs, place marketing, value co-creation, contribution to economic growth, and internationalization. Moverover, it sheds new light on the micro- and macroeconomic developments and monetary policy issues in the Eastern European and Balkan countries. This book is a useful tool for scholars in economics and finance interested in the further economic development of the Balkans and Eastern European countries as well as to professionals in the business, financial and insurance sectors.

This book tells the story of the European Movement’s mission to create—through education—a European spirit in order to secure the success of European integration. This book draws links between the crisis of solidarity experienced by the European Union today and the difficulties faced throughout European integration to develop a fully-fledged EU education policy. It makes the case that education has not been a stable mechanism for fostering spirit due to its national attachment to identity and nation-building. Without education, it has been difficult to foster the spirit needed to establish a strong citizen-wide sense of European solidarity to overcome the crises the EU faces today. Exploring the connection between education and solidarity through the notion of spirit, the book presents an interdisciplinary study that avoids the compartmentalisation of education studies, philosophy and political science to bring ideas together that shed fresh light on contemporary debates currently under the spotlight.

The Routledge Handbook of Comparative Economic Systems examines the institutional bases of economies, and the different ways in which economic activity can function, be organized and governed. It examines the complexity of this academic and research field, assessing the place of comparative economic studies within economics, paying due attention to future perspectives, and presenting critically important questions, analytical methods and relative approaches. This complements the recent revival of the systemic view of economic governance, which was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and likely even more the renewed East-West clash epitomized by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the West’s reaction to it. The Handbook is divided into five parts. Each part deals with an issue of relevance for the discipline. The first and second parts look at the subject, content and approach of the discipline and its comparative method. The third part looks at the idiosyncratic nature of different economic systems and their constituent elements. The fourth part considers the outcomes that different economic systems generate and how these outcomes change following the evolution and transformation of economic systems. The last part takes stock and looks ahead at the challenges, from a theoretical and applied perspective, and the exogenous and endogenous factors promoting the advancement of the discipline, including the interaction between and competition among varied approaches and opposing paradigms. The Handbook brings together leading international contributors to reflect on the relevant debates and case or country studies, provides a balanced overview of the results achieved and current knowledge, as well as evolving issues and new fields of research. The book provides researchers, students and analysts with a complete, critical and forward-looking presentation and analysis of the content, development, challenges and perspectives of comparative economic studies. Chapters 4 and 22 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. Chapter 4 has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license and Chapter 22 has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.