The EU’s single currency crisis and the ensuing human costs have led to Europe’s biggest disaster since 1945. This book examines each of its stages and the political and social impact, and reveals the longer-term origins of the crisis, particularly the failure of elites to promote a genuine European partnership grounded in democratic values and a desire to co-exist with a national outlook.
The author defends an orderly retreat from the existing model of monetary union, arguing that an alternative is needed in order for countries enduring a prolonged slump to recover, and recommending that EU chiefs should also treat the nation-state as a partner in a common emergency that needs to be overcome.
This jargon-free, insightful and long-term analysis of a dangerous crisis is an invaluable book for academics and students alike. It is also an effective tool for policy-makers, citizens and business people who require an accessible and in-depth appraisal of a continuing catastrophe.
Table of Content
Introduction
1. Creating the single currency: the triumph of ideology over good sense
2. The builders of the European Union and their project: 1950–1992
3. France and Germany: the EU’s odd couple
4. The flight from nationalism towards the elusive European identity
5. The steady retreat of democracy in the EU
6. Return to European strife via monetary union
7. A crisis with no end in sight
Conclusion: routes away from crisis
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Tom Gallagher is Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of Bradford
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