Schmidt: Going Beyond the Numbers in the Eurozone
Vivien Schmidt, director for the Center for the Study of Europe at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, analyzed the impact of austerity in a recent article for the Social Europe Journal.
Titled “Saving Social Europe: Going Beyond Governing by the Rules and Ruling by the Numbers,” the article argued that austerity policies enacted since 2008 have wreaked havoc on European social policies.
From the text of the article:
Austerity policies focused on rapid deficit reduction along with pressures for structural reform – often shorthand for reducing labor rights and protections – have wreaked havoc on ‘Social Europe,’ in particular in countries in the periphery.
Slowly but surely, however, under pressure from deteriorating economies and increasing political volatility, EU leaders have been changing the rules by which they have been governing the economy.
Schmidt has published widely on European political economy, institutions, and democracy, with ten books, over 100 scholarly journal articles or chapters in books, and numerous policy briefs and comments, most recently on the Eurozone crisis. She has been a visiting professor or scholar at Sciences Po in Paris, Free University of Berlin, LUISS in Rome, Free University of Brussels, European University Institute, Oxford, Cambridge, and Copenhagen Business School, and is past head of the European Union Studies Association (EUSA). Recent books include: “Resilient Liberalism in Europe’s Political Economy” (co-edited, 2013), “Debating Political Identity and Legitimacy in the European Union” (co-edited, 2011), “Democracy in Europe” (2006), and “The Futures of European Capitalism” (2002).
You can read the full article here.