Regional Governance and Macroeconomic Crisis Management in Latin America

This chapter analyses the governance institutions in Latin America, i.e. norms, instruments and mechanisms designed to deal with macroeconomic and financial crisis management, and their use during the financial crisis which started in 2008 in the USA and reached the region mostly towards the mid-2010s. It argues that Latin American regional institutions never prioritized the harmonization or the development of common macroeconomic policies or mechanisms to deal with financial crises, and the few multilateral initiatives created were not successful.

The Crisis: Its Management and Impact on Equity and Democracy in Portugal and Possible Consequences for the EU

This chapter analyses the reaction of Portugal to the Euro crisis, in particular, the absence of popular revolt, and explores the possibilities to replicate the ‘Portuguese experience’ elsewhere.

Finance Capitalism and Democracy: The Case of the Financial Transactions Tax

This chapter analyses the pros and cons of financial transaction taxes (FTT) as mechanisms to mitigate financial instability and the proposal of the European Commission to implement an FTT in the EU in September 2011 until its suspension, as well as the prospects for it to be adopted in the future.

The Systemic Nature of the Global Crisis and Some Principles for Tackling It

This chapter argues that climate change, the global macroeconomic crisis and the weakening of democracy are all expressions of the same incoherence in the present global economic system, which operates on the basis of major ‘market failures’ that are characterized by the same kind of economic mechanism based on biased relative prices for fossil energies, financial returns and social cohesion. Therefore, the only practical solution is to make sustainable production profitable by first correcting these relative prices in order to re-establish a systemic convergence between private and social returns and between political and economic democracy.

The Fall of a Giant: Greed, Corruption and Abuse of Power Undermining Democracy in Brazil

This Chapter explores the impact of the financial crisis on Brazilian democracy. We argue that while Brazil is one among many countries facing systemic effects of the 2008 crisis, domestic factors are also important to understand the level of the crisis, and the fragility of democracy at the present. Domestic factors explain, therefore the differences between Brazil and other countries in Latin America and in Europe.

The Road from Prosperity into the Crisis: The Long Cycle of Post-War Economic, Social and Political Development

This chapter provides an empirically founded reconstruction of the long road of (Western) societies into the present crisis as a background for the different studies carried out as part of the Jean Monnet Network “Crisis–Equity–Democracy for Europe and Latin America”.

The Double Democratic Deficit

This chapter will sketch how the EU has reacted to the financial crisis and in particular to the unfolding sovereign debt crisis, revealing major flaws in EMU’s architecture. It will not only address these design flaws but attempt to evaluate the underlying causes, reasons and motives of the architects and decision takers by comparing the more “federalist” Werner Plan with the more “intergovernmental” blueprint of the EMU of the Maastricht Treaty, connect it with the paradigm change on economic governance discussed by Schulmeister in Chap. 10.1007/978-3-030-54895-7_2 and show the consequences for the crisis and its management in terms of efficiency, equity and democratic accountability.

The 2011 Crisis in Italy: A Story of Deep-Rooted (and Still Unresolved) Economic and Political Weaknesses

Italy went through an economic and political crisis in 2011. The trigger was the Sovereign debt crisis that shook the Eurozone due to its incomplete structure. The ingrained causes were the long-term structural problems that have plagued the Italian economy for a long time, leaving it vulnerable to external shocks. The reaction to the crisis took the form of austerity measures and reforms implemented by a technocratic Government. These policies, carried out with no external financial assistance, were meant to send a signal to markets and stop the spiral of distrust and negative self-fulfilling expectations, but they did not address the sources of the problems. Since then much has been done at both national and European levels, but it is still not enough to guarantee resilience. Italy needs to finally solve its structural problems, and the European Monetary Union (EMU) needs to complete its architecture, starting with the completion of the Banking Union. Considering the increasing social discontent and political intolerance, failing to act now might imply severe consequences when the next crisis hits.

Proposals for Reforms and Democratization of the EMU

In this part of the book, we discuss proposals to improve architectural and crisis management lacunas. While other partners of the network present own proposals, this chapter has the objective to sketch out proposals, which have been discussed or are still in the pipeline at the top level of European Union (EU) decision-takers and institutions to remedy lacunas, errors and omissions of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) architecture. A main argument advanced is that the reforms with a focus on “risk-avoidance” and stronger “surveillance” and “monitoring” had more success, while any reforms based on the principle of “risk-sharing have encountered major resistance, both for the financial market regulation and for the fiscal framework.

A “Pink Tide” Then a “Turn to the Right”: Populisms and Extremism in Latin America in the Twenty-First Century

This chapter gives a brief historical account of previous and current waves of populism in Latin America and their intermeshing with systemic factors, and discusses the historical relationship between populism, democracy and neoliberalism, giving particular focus to Bolivia, Chile and Brazil.