Greece in the Euro: Economic Delinquency or System Failure? by Eleni Panagiotarea

Is Greece an economic delinquent or a victim of systemic failure? The question and its answer have wider resonance: the Euro - a currency without a state - was always going to be about owning and sharing responsibility in a less than perfect monetary union, in a more than troubled world. Combining historical perspective with up-to-date analysis, and using elite interviews published for the first time, this book foregoes apportioning blame, in favour of delving into the complex forces that turned a sovereign debt crisis into a crisis for the eurozone. In the process, it subjects theoretical insights on rule-following and compliance to fresh empirical testing, while introducing a concept of policy ostrichism. Greece in the Euro: Economic Delinquency or System Falure? contributes to three important debates about the euro area crisis: the 'new' economic governance versus the old approach, the IMF/EU experiment in problem solving and, finally, the democratic ownership of the national economic policy process. 'The Europeans have engaged in a protracted and often highly uncivilized blame game as the euro crisis moves from one phase to the next. This book examines the interaction between national and systemic failure, with Greece as a test case. It is lucid, well documented and cogently argued. And it pulls no punches.' Professor Loukas Tsoukalis University of Athens '

read more..