Read more
This volume examines the interrelationship between democratic legitimacy at the European level and the ongoing Eurozone crisis that began in 2010.
Europe's crisis of legitimacy stems from 'governing by rules and ruling by numbers' in the sovereign debt crisis, which played havoc with the eurozone economy while fueling political discontent. Using the lens of democratic theory, the book assesses the legitimacy of EU governing activities first in terms of their procedural quality ('throughput),' by charting EU actors' different pathways to legitimacy, and then evaluates their policy effectiveness ('output') and political responsiveness ('input'). In addition to an engaging and distinctive analysis of Eurozone crisis governance and its impact on democratic legitimacy, the book offers a number of theoretical insights into the broader question of the functioning of the EU and supranational governance more generally. It concludes with proposals for how to remedy the EU's problems of legitimacy, reinvigorate its national democracies, and rethink its future.
List of contents
- 1: Introduction: Europe's Crisis of Legitimacy
- PART I Conceptualizing Legitimacy in the EU
- 2: Conceptualizing Legitimacy: Input, Output, and Throughput
- 3: Split-Level Legitimacy and Politicization in EU Governance
- PART II Throughput Legitimacy in the Eurozone Crisis
- 4: Governing by Rules and Ruling by Numbers in the Eurozone Crisis
- 5: Council Governance: 'Dictatorship' or 'Deliberative Body'?
- 6: European Central Bank Governance: ' Hero' or 'Ogre'?
- 7: Commission Governance: 'Ayatollahs of Austerity' or 'Ministers of Moderation'
- 8: European Parliament Governance: From 'Talking Shop' to 'Equal Partner'?
- PART III Output and Input Legitimacy in the Eurozone Crisis
- 9: Policy Effectiveness and Performance in the Eurozone Crisis
- 10: National 'Politics against Policy' in the Eurozone Crisis
- Conclusion: How to (Re) Envision Eurozone Governance: Beyond Governing by Rules and Ruling by Numbers
About the author
Vivien A. Schmidt is Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration, Professor of International Relations, and Professor of Political Science at Boston University. During a distinguished career she has published a number of volumes including, Democracy in Europe (OUP, 2006) and The Futures of European Capitalism (OUP, 2002).
Summary
This volume examines the interrelationship between democratic legitimacy at the European level and the ongoing Eurozone crisis that began in 2010.
Additional text
If your source of legitimacy comes from outputs - 'what have you done for me lately' - and those outputs turn negative, you turn to how you do things for legitimacy - 'sticking to the rules.' But as the EU discovered from 2011-2015, doing so will not solve an output problem. Instead, to solve that output problem EU governors increasingly 'reinterpreted the rules' while proclaiming that they were not doing so, which led publics to question their legitimacy still further.Vivien Schmidt describes this 'slippery slope' of declining legitimacy for the EU perfectly
Report
In Europe's Crisis of Legitimacy Vivien Schmidt presents her many years of research on the Euro crisis and uses her excellent knowledge of the EU through her "insider knowledge" and proximity to the European institutions Stefan Wallaschek, Polit Vierteljahresschr
