EU Views: Wolfgang Streeck
Name: Wolfgang Streeck
Nationality: German
Occupation(s): Economic sociologist and emeritus director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne.
Connection to Europe: Born outside of Münster, Streeck is the son of refugees – ethnic Germans from eastern Europe displaced by the end of the Second World War – who lives at the center of Western Europe. He has written extensively on the political economy of Germany, and, more recently, has become involved in debates surrounding austerity and the future of European capitalism.
Date of interview: April 4th, 2017
In this episode, Olya Yordanyan talks to German sociologist Wolfgang Streeck about his bleak vision of the emerging future in Europe and the reasons for his pessimism. He explains how the “one size fits all” approach in the EU and EMU has failed, adding, “groups hoping for the restoration of national autonomy are a democratic reaction of despair with international regime that neglects broad range of interests present in these peoples.” Questioning the optimal scale of governance in a globalized economy, Streeck ends by emphasizing the importance of restructuring the current monetary regime as well as the need for innovative solutions in order to stabilize the world economy in the short run.