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Informationen zum Autor Tiago Moreira Ramalho is a Researcher in Political Science at the Université libre de Bruxelles. His research focuses on the politics of international economic governance. He earned his Ph.D. from Sciences Po and has been Visiting Researcher at the University of Cambridge and Visiting Professor at Georgetown University. Klappentext This book proposes a new analytical angle to the politics of austerity in southern Europe after the euro crisis. The post-pandemic economic recession has plunged European leaders into fresh debates about how the European economy should be governed. Over a decade since the outset of the euro crisis, the role of austerity and its alternatives remains at the core of political dispute, with the memory of bailouts, conditionality, and the Troika in southern Europe still nourishing profound disagreements. Contrary to dominant narratives about austerity, domestic politics is central to the definition and legitimation of austerity across countries. Drawing comparisons between Greece, Portugal, and Spain during this period, the book traces the processes of crisis construal and of implementation of austerity, as well as the contentious politics that it generated. In doing so, it demonstrates how the political project of austerity in southern Europe was co-construed at the national, international, and transnational levels, with lessons for new ways to deal with economic recessions. Vorwort Sheds new light on the politics of austerity in southern Europe after the euro crisis. Zusammenfassung This book reexamines the politics of austerity during the euro crisis, challenging conventional narratives of austerity as either an inevitable economic remedy or an external imposition. Focusing on Greece, Portugal, and Spain, it demonstrates that austerity was a political project shaped and contested across domestic, international, and transnational levels. Drawing on extensive empirical material, the book explores how austerity policies were legitimated in southern Europe and how they evolved throughout the crisis. It analyses the construction of crisis narratives, and the critical role of national actors in rooting the crisis in domestic failure. It examines the implementation of austerity policies, revealing how they were justified but also malleable and contingent upon political work. And it shows how austerity was opposed by an increasingly transnational social movement. The book offers critical insights into the politics of crisis management and the contested legacy of austerity in contemporary debates on how to govern the European economy. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1. Introduction: Where Does Austerity Come From? 2. Making the Southern European Crises 3. Austerity at Work I: Bailing-out Greece 4. Austerity at Work II: Bailing-out Southern Europe 5. Does Austerity Work? 6. Anti-Austerity: From the Streets to Government 7. Beyond Austerity? From the Euro Crisis to the Pandemic 8. Conclusion ...
