The New North-South Divide: Bailout Politics and the Return of the Left in Southern Europe
The New North-South Divide: Bailout Politics and the Return of the Left in Southern Europe
This chapter assesses the Eurozone debt crisis as a conflict between creditor and debtor countries, pitting northern member states against the southern periphery, before looking at the distributional politics of austerity in the smaller southern Eurozone states of Greece and Portugal. The Eurozone crisis placed the European Union under extraordinary strain, as markets panicked, leaving the weaker and more indebted member states struggling to avoid financial collapse. The bailouts of Greece, Ireland, and Portugal may have saved them from crashing out of the single currency, but the price was harsh austerity for their citizens and an accumulation of debt comparable to wartime. Meanwhile, the political costs of the euro crisis can be seen in the destabilization of European party systems. Not only did Greece embrace anti-system politics, electing a government opposed to the bailout regime, but the northern European countries that had put up much of the money for the rescues also saw their own political backlash.
Keywords: Eurozone debt crisis, creditor countries, debtor countries, distributional politics, austerity, bailout regime, single currency, European party system, anti-system politics, financial collapse
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