In Draghi we trust
The Euro Crisis, Social Unrest and the ECB
- Gerald Schneider
The 2008 global fi nancial crisis came with fears - and, for some, hopes of a new wave of public mobilisation in industrialised countries. Large protests were particularly expected in the epicentre of the crisis, the European Union.
Yet, the force with which social groups garnered their calls for strikes ebbed quickly away. Gerald Schneider provides new evidence for why this was the case. He claims that strikes, and particularly political strikes, are 'bad weather' phenomena and crises exacerbate them. In monetary unions, where currency adjustments are difficult, fiscal changes are not supported by easing monetary measures and should unchain social unrest unless supranational actors get involved. Schneider argues that the political actions of the European Central Bank (ECB) have countered the potential for strikes in the Eurozone. He provides evidence for his theory with yearly panel data and a new original data set of monthly strikes between 2001 and 2013. His analyses support the thesis that the EU institution was successful at attenuating social indignation over the Eurocrisis and its political fallout.
About Gerald Schneider
Gerald Schneider, born in 1962 in Zürich, is Professor of International Politics at the University of Konstantz and Executive Editor of 'European Union Politics'. His main areas of research are European Union decision making, the causes and consequences of armed violence, the international political economy of financial markets, bargaining and conflict management. In this lecture, Gerald Schneider presents the paper The Eurotower Strikes Back:Crises, Adjustments and Europe's Austerity Strikes, which he co-authored with Federica Genovese and Pia Wassmann.
Location
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Metropolitan Building, Room Z-009 (Ground floor) Buitenveldertselaan 3-5, Amsterdam. Registration is required.