Governing the Euro Area in Good Times and Bad

Dermot Hodson

Subjects a wide range of theoretical perspectives on EMU to fresh empirical testing
Combines historical perspective with up to date analysis

Governing the Euro Area in Good Times and Bad

Dermot Hodson

Description

Can the euro area survive without a more centralized economic policy? What lessons can be drawn from Economic and Monetary Union about new modes of policy-making in the European Union? Have euro area members spoken with one voice on the international stage and what does this mean for the European Union's ambitions to be a global actor in its own right? This book explores these three key questions through an in-depth analysis of euro area governance from the launch of the single currency in 1999 to the sovereign debt crisis of 2010. Drawing insights from the study of European Union politics, comparative political economy and international political economy, it examines: Economic and Monetary Union's break from the Community method of policy-making; the European Central Bank's ambivalence about the pursuit of ever closer union; the Eurogroup's rise and fall as a forum for economic policy coordination; the interplay between national fiscal institutions and the stability and growth pact; the broad economic policy guidelines' failure to apply peer pressure; the European Union's influence within the G20 and the International Monetary Fund at the height of the global financial crisis; euro diplomacy towards China and other rising powers; and current debates about the fate of EMU and the reform of euro area governance in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. The book's conclusions challenge claims that the euro area is in crisis because of its decentralized approach to decision-making alone and the corollary that the euro can be saved only through a further transfer of sovereignty to the supranational level.

Governing the Euro Area in Good Times and Bad

Dermot Hodson

List of tables
List of figures
Preface
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction: New Adventures in EU Policy-Making
Part I: New Institutions
2. The ECB as a Reluctant EU Institution
3. The Rise and Fall of the Eurogroup
Part II: New Instruments
4. Profligacy, Prudence and the Stability and Growth Pact
5. Why the BEPGs Failed to Bite
Part III: New Modes of Diplomacy
6. Ensemble Acting in the G20 and the IMF
7. Bilateral Diplomacy in Beijing and Beyond
8. Conclusion: For Better or Worse
References
Index

Governing the Euro Area in Good Times and Bad

Dermot Hodson

Author Information

Dermot Hodson has a BA in Economics and Philosophy from Trinity College, Dublin, an MSc in European Economic Studies from the College of Europe, Bruges and a PhD in European Political Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He previously worked as an economist at the European Commission's Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs, where he worked on issues relating to Economic and Monetary Union and the governance of the euro area. He has taught at the London School of Economics, London South Bank University and London Metropolitan University. He is Lecturer in Political Economy, Birkbeck College, University of London.

Governing the Euro Area in Good Times and Bad

Dermot Hodson

Reviews and Awards

"Hodson's greatest skill is not merely his capacity to explore the dilemmas of centralized versus decentralized policy-making or of informal versus formal styles of decision-making, but rather to illuminate and articulate the complex history of the EU's experiment with the Euro and economic governance with a lucidity of thought and a clarity of voice that demands that the reader sit up and listen to one of the outstanding commentators on Europe's political economy."--Kenneth Armstrong, Professor in European Union Law, School of Law, Queen Mary, University of London

"Dermot Hodson has provided a sophisticated and timely study of the governance of the Euro Area as a distinctive exercise in European integration. At a time when this new experiment is faced with a major economic and financial crisis he unravels in a masterful way the highly complex decision processes and assesses them in relation to current and emerging challenges. The book is essential reading for students of European integration."--Kenneth Dyson, Research Professor, School of European Studies, Cardiff University

"This fine-grained analysis of economic governance in the EU provides nuanced insights into the challenges facing the eurozone and its members. The study also sheds light on wider issues about the alternatives to the traditional Community method of decision-making."--Helen Wallace, Professor Emeritus, European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science