PAGOULATOS George & THOLONIAT Luc - Crisis, Changes in European Political Economy and their Impact on Societies (25h)
Professor George PAGOULATOS and Professor Luc THOLONIAT Academic Assistant: RANA Shanawar
Since the turn of the century, Europe has undergone several “once-in-a-lifetime” economic crises, from the Eurozone debt crisis that followed the global financial crisis, to the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing challenges to the global economic order. These crises have fueled and intersected with other (geo)political developments – from the rise of populism to Brexit, and to the new security and energy challenges triggered by the war in Ukraine. At the same time, the EU is coping with more silent yet increasingly tangible and far-reaching socio-economic transformations, such as demographic ageing, the climate crisis, and the need to reboot sources of competitiveness. Analysts initially spoke about a polycrisis, which has now evolved into a permacrisis, describing a European Union in a mode of constant crisis management.
With the long-term trends of European integration as a background, the course will focus on recent crises as opportunities to reflect on the political economy of EU-level reform in hard times. It will seek to understand the workings and interdependencies between institutions, social-political attitudes and economics, as well as between the national, the intergovernmental, and the European levels. It will shed light on the role of crises as reform accelerators and on their limits, the rationale underlying policy decisions, the dilemmas and trade-offs, the formation of coalitions, broader implications, and the crucial stakes involved. The course will also explore the role of crises as part of broader societal and political transformations: the divisions between north, south, east and west; the diversity and commonalities of situations across the EU; social and economic inequalities; and the “winners” and “losers” in European societies. Last but not least, the course will examine how the EU is adjusting its response to citizens’ evolving perceptions and political shifts across Europe.
A “real” policy orientation will be combined with political economy and socio-political perspectives. Introductory lectures will be followed by seminars on specific topics, in which students will give presentations. The course welcomes a pluralism of views around the topics to be covered and seeks to promote active debate among the students in class.