Left-wing populism in Spain

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-86
Author(s):  
I. L. Prokhorenko
Keyword(s):  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Party System ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Electoral Defeat ◽  
The Face ◽  
Imminent Threat

The paper examines formation, evolution and political perspectives of the Spanish radical left-wing populist party ‘We Can!’ (Podemos) in the face of growing support for populism in the the Southern European countries as well as in the European Union in general. The author identifies the origins and country-specific characteristics of the left-wing populism in Spain and provides the general overview of trends in the country’s party system since the middle of the 2000s, including the growing axiological, generational, political and ideological cleavages in the Spanish divided society. Special attention is paid to the political portrait of the Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias and the prospects for development of political situation in the country after his resignation and subsequent electoral defeat in the Autonomous Community of Madrid in May 2021. As such, this case study can provide some useful insights on the nature of populism in the EU member-states in general. In particular, the paper shows that the fragmentation of traditional political systems and the impacts of the sovereign debt crisis per se do not provide a sufficient explanation for the growing demand for populist rhetoric and charismatic leaders, but rather they have exposed certain structural economic and social imbalances. It is exactly these imbalances which traditional political parties are unable to address that create a breeding ground for various left- and right-wing parties and movements. As a result, the author concludes that populism will remain an essential element of political landscape in Spain despite all scandals that accompany populist politicians as the case of Pablo Iglesias has clearly demonstrated. At the same time the author emphasizes that it is this clear and imminent threat posed by the populist movements that may eventually serve as an impetus for a renewal of traditional parties and of the country’s political system in general.

scholarly journals Global crises and populism: the role of Eurozone institutions*

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (97) ◽  
pp. 95-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigi Guiso ◽  
Helios Herrera ◽  
Massimo Morelli ◽  
Tommaso Sonno
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crises ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Institutional Constraints ◽  
Sovereign Debt Crisis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Face ◽  
Political Backlash

SUMMARY Populist parties are likely to gain consensus when mainstream parties and status quo institutions fail to manage the shocks faced by their economies. Institutional constraints, which limit the possible actions in the face of shocks, result in poorer performance and frustration among voters who turn to populist movements. We rely on this logic to explain the different support of populist parties among European countries in response to the globalization shock and to the 2008–11 financial and sovereign debt crisis. We predict a greater success of populist parties in response to these shocks in Eurozone (EZ) countries, and our empirical analysis confirms this prediction. This is consistent with voters’ frustration for the greater inability of the EZ governments to react to difficult-to-manage globalization shocks and financial crises. Our evidence has implications for the speed of construction of political unions. A slow, staged process of political unification can expose the European Union to a risk of political backlash if hard to manage shocks hit the economies during the integration process.

The EU Migration Crisis: A Crisis Analysis Case Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Slominski
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Eu

The European Union (EU) migration crisis has been part and parcel of a conglomerate of crises that have affected the EU since the late 2000s, as have the financial and sovereign debt crisis, “Brexit,” the Russia–Ukraine conflict, as well as tensions within transatlantic relations. Scholarship on the EU has devoted much attention in assessing what the migration crisis means for EU integration at large. In particular, EU scholars are interested why the migration crisis has led to political gridlock and a renationalization of border controls rather than a deepening of integration. While they differ in their explanations, these explanations shed light on different aspects of the crisis and are far from mutually exclusive. Scholars who are more interested in the area of EU Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) largely agree with EU theorists that the field suffers from an incomplete governance design, the dominance of EU member states, and weak supranational capacities. Their analysis also focuses on intra-EU dynamics but offers a more nuanced empirical assessment of relevant EU institutions and decision-making in the course of managing the migration crisis. This growing body of research produces valuable insights and largely confirms existing scholarship, including that on the growing securitization and externalization of EU asylum and migration policy. The EU’s understanding as a norm-based power is particularly challenged by the migratory movements in the wake of the crisis. A small but growing scholarship analyses how the EU is balancing its non-entrée policy with its legal obligation, and what kind of governance arrangements result from that. While this scholarship has enriched our understanding of the EU migration crisis, it has not generated a major refinement of the standard approaches of EU theorists and JHA scholars. To further enrich the literature on the migration crisis, scholars should go beyond studying the dynamics of EU decision-making and the role of EU institutions. Such an approach should engage more systematically with international actors and institutions that have the capacity to influence EU migration policy. At the same time, global phenomena such as war, poverty, or climate change should also be taken into account in assessing the EU’s room for maneuver in handling migratory pressures. Future research on the migration crisis as well as on migration challenges should thus not only connect with other subfields of political science, such as policy analysis or international relations, but also open up to other disciplines such as law, demography, or environmental studies.

scholarly journals How Memoranda of Understanding Have Affected EU Democratic Institutions in Southern EU Countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Anastasia Chr. Lekka
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Parliaments ◽  
European Continent ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Eu Member States

The recent recession having emerged in 2007 has been the worst economic downturn since the time of Great Depression of 1929 in USA and spread across the European continent. In many European countries this led to severe sovereign debt crisis beginning in 2010 and was followed by implementation of austerity measures with significant impact on public, social and employment sector. Those tough austerity measures resulted in structural reforms of welfare and labor market especially in Southern EU countries like Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy representing the most prominent examples. These policies were imposed to a large extend through the so called “Troika” which was an interaction between internal EU and external Organizations, like the European Union, the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund respectively.Citizens realize that their national economic institutions are no longer responsible for the decision making on major social and economic policies, on economic and welfare policies, on privatization and sale of public assets. Consequently, citizens tend to question if this constrained democracy deserves further support. This is enhanced by the fact that National Parliaments no longer develop policies but rather align with policies dictated by the above stated Institutions and are forced to accept such deals without asking the opinion of citizens. Nevertheless the EU intends to promote civil society participation in decision making and program policies applied. This contradiction needs to be analyzed in order to determine if there is a democratic deficit in EU member states.  

scholarly journals The Impact of the Introduction of Uniform European Collective Action Clauses on European Government Bonds as a Regulatory Result of the European Sovereign Debt Crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Nicoletta Layher ◽  
Eyden Samunderu
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Sovereign Debt Crisis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Bond Yields ◽  
Member States ◽  
Sovereign Bond ◽  
European Sovereign Debt Crisis ◽  
Collective Action Clauses

This paper conducts an empirical study on the inclusion of uniform European Collective Action Clauses (CACs) in sovereign bond contracts issued from member states of the European Union, introduced as a regulatory result of the European sovereign debt crisis. The study focuses on the reaction of sovereign bond yields from European Union member states with the inclusion of the new regulation in the European Union. A two-stage least squares regression analysis is adopted in order to determine the extent of impact effects of CACs on member states sovereign bond yields. Evidence is found that CACs in the European Union are priced on financial markets and that sovereign bond yields do respond to the inclusion of uniform CACs in the European Union.

Eurobonds: Three Lessons from China’s “Debt Centralization/Decentralization” Experience

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiyong An
Keyword(s):  
Moral Hazard ◽  
Euro Area ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Budget Constraint ◽  
Sovereign Debt Crisis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Institutional Mechanism ◽  
Previous Series

Abstract Eurobonds, dubbed as Coronabonds in the context of the current coronavirus crisis, are being hotly debated among the euro area member states amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The debate is in many ways a retread of the euro area sovereign debt crisis of 2011–2012. As China’s “debt centralization/decentralization” experience is comparable with the introduction of Eurobonds in the European Union (EU) in terms of institutional mechanism design, we review our previous series of studies of China’s “debt centralization/decentralization” experience to shed some light on the Eurobonds debate. We obtain three key lessons. First, the introduction of Eurobonds in EU is likely to soften the budget constraint of the governments of the euro area member states. Second, it is also likely to strengthen the moral hazard incentives of the governments of the euro area member states to intentionally overstate their budget problems. Finally, the magnitudes of the moral hazard effects generated by the introduction of Eurobonds in EU are likely larger than their respective counterparts in China.

Has Germany “Fallen Out of Love” with Europe? The Eurozone Crisis and the “Normalization” of Germany's European Identity

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Galpin
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
European Identity ◽  
Media Discourse ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eurozone Crisis ◽  
Northern European ◽  
European Crisis ◽  
Political Speeches

The European Union has been in its biggest ever crisis since the onset of the Greek sovereign debt crisis in 2010. Beyond the political and economic dimensions, the crisis has also sparked discussions about Germany's European identity. Some scholars have argued that Germany's behavior in the crisis signals a continuation of the process of “normalization” of its European identity toward a stronger articulation of national identity and interests, that it has “fallen out of love” with Europe. This article will seek to reassess these claims, drawing on detailed analysis of political and media discourse in Germany—from political speeches through to both broadsheet and tabloid newspapers. It will argue that the crisis is understood broadly as a European crisis in Germany, where the original values of European integration are at stake. Furthermore, the crisis is debated through the lens of European solidarity, albeit with a particular German flavor of solidarity that draws on the economic tradition of ordoliberalism. Rather than strengthening expressions of national identity, this has resulted in the emergence of a new northern European identity in contrast to Greece or “southern Europe.”

The Impact of the Greek Indignados on Greek Politics

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paris Aslanidis ◽  
Nikos Marantzidis
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Party System ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
The Impact

The burden of this paper is to assert the significance of the 2011 movement of the Greek indignados for Greek politics during the Great Recession. Acknowledging the systematically feeble analysis of the nexus between non-institutional and electoral politics in social movement literature, the authors analyze the emergence, development, and heritage of the Greek indignados, focusing squarely on their impact on public opinion and the domestic party system, both at the level of interparty, as well as intraparty dynamics. The authors’ conclusions are drawn mainly from an analysis of political party discourse, public opinion data, and interviews conducted on the field, catering equally for the supply and demand side of the novel political claims that surfaced during the first years of the Greek sovereign debt crisis. The authors point to the crucial contribution of the movement’s discourse in facilitating voter defection from the traditional two-party system that ruled Greece for more than thirty years, and argue that the indignados functioned as a beacon of populist discursive tropes, which cemented the emergence of a new divide in Greek society between pro- and anti-bailout citizens. Conclusively, the authors take the position that the imprint of the indignados on the Greek psyche has had tremendous repercussions in consolidating a new party system, by undermining traditional political forces and legitimizing new, anti-establishment contenders.

The building of economic governance in the European Union

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Verdun
Keyword(s):  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
Monetary Integration ◽  
Economic Governance ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
The Eu

This article seeks to shed light on the development over the past decades of the concept of economic governance. It asks what is understood by economic governance and what role the social dimension has played. The article offers an analysis of the problems and possible issues confronting the EU as it seeks ways to address the sovereign debt crisis by embarking on deeper economic integration. The article concludes that from the early days there have been questions about the exact interaction between economic and monetary integration and thus between ‘economic’ and ‘monetary’ union. Despite Delors’ original inclination, few were willing to establish any linkage between EMU and social matters. The crises have again brought out the need to consider the two in tandem. Moreover, with the increased role in economic governance accorded to EU-level institutions, there is a need to rethink the EU democratic model.

From embedded to uncompromising neoliberalism: Competitiveness policies and European Union interscalar relations in the case of Greece

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicos Souliotis ◽  
Georgia Alexandri
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Supranational Level ◽  
Of Greece ◽  
The Eu

This article traces the transfer of competitiveness and cohesion policies from the European Union (EU) institutions to the national and subnational authorities in Greece, both before and after the sovereign debt crisis. We argue that prior to the crisis, the flexibilities of the EU governance system allowed the Greek central government to use the competitiveness and cohesion agenda, as well as the associated funds, to build a domestic socio-political consensus focused on the idea of ‘convergence’ with Europe. The crisis-induced bailout programme deepened neoliberal policies and reorganised vertical and horizontal power relations: policy-making powers have been upscaled towards the supranational level, while the national authorities have been socially disembedded.

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