*** CLEMENS KAUPA: The Pluralist Character of the European Economic Constitution. Hart Publishing (Kemp House, Chawley Park, Cumnor Hill, Oxford, OX2 9PH, UK. Tel: (44-1865) 598648 – Fax: 510710 – Email: mail@hartpub.co.uk – Internet: http://www.hartpub.co.uk ). "Modern Studies in European Law", No. 67. 2016, 388 pp, £60. ISBN 978-1-84946-769-8.
Right on the first page of this work that punctuates a career that led the author from Vienna University to Harvard Law School, a foot note seizes one’s attention. It indicates that the term ‘neoliberalism’ has to be understood as being both an ‘ideological position’ and a ‘political practice’ that became hegemonic at the start of the 1970s. In terms of ideology, it is based on the conviction that usually ‘society can best be organized in the form of markets,’ in other words, free from state intervention aiming in part to promote ‘redistributive measures.’ And it is noted in the same footnote that this ‘intellectual position’ became a ‘historically contingent practice that developed in reaction to the expansion of the welfare state and the increasing attempts of macroeconomic coordination after WWII.’ To such an extent that neoliberalism has become, in the Western world, ‘the hegemonic mode of thinking about political and economic questions.’
The European Union and, within its midst, the eurozone, have clearly not escaped from this wave. In ‘favour’ of the crisis that began in 2008, neoliberalism has even become omnipresent, under the cover of austerity policies. This is a reality of which the author who now lectures at VU University in Amsterdam seeks the underpinning. More than a defence lawyer, he acts as a public prosecutor, stating from the outset that ‘the Union's legal framework cannot be held to constitute a comprehensive choice in favour of any specific ideological position that would have to be taken into account in the interpretation of European law.’ The conviction running through the book is that the various versions of the European ‘treaty’ are nothing but ‘a ‘pluralist framework’ that in no way forces the Union to become the disciple of any kind of ideological belief. On the contrary, he explains in another footnote, the Union should remain open to all socio-economic paradigms rather than just Keynesianism, which is the second dominant school of thought, thus it should also remain open, for example, to a ‘future post-growth paradigm’ that is not in fact forbidden by any part of the treaties. In the little European universe, openness of spirit has, however, fallen victim to ‘hegemonic historical, political and economic narratives’ that have led the Union to become a vassal of neoliberal ideology. It is the different stages of this exercise of manipulation that are analysed in these pages, the author’s aim being to demonstrate that the treaty/ies have a quite different potential from the policies pursued at the moment.
The author starts by looking at the ‘normative orientation of the European economic constitution from a historical, an economic and a doctrinal perspective.’ After exploring the historical context that saw the arrival of the Treaty of Rome, its regulatory architecture and socio-economic objectives, he concludes that this founding treaty of the Common Market was designed as a ‘pluralist instrument.’ The reforms undertaken within the framework of the ‘1992’ project were important, but did not challenge this pluralist nature. On this basis, Clemens Kaupa wonders ‘whether, given the Union's regulatory objectives such as economic growth and regional cohesion, we should assume that policies based on a specific socio-economic paradigm are better suited to achieve them, and thus preferable on the basis of a functional interpretation of the Treaty.’ His answer is clearly ‘No’ since he shows that it is a fact that ‘most economic issues relevant from a European law perspective are fundamentally contested among economic experts, which means that it cannot be assumed that any specific socio-economic paradigm would prima facie be more successful in achieving the Union's regulatory objectives.’ The author then turns to a detailed analysis of legal doctrine, taking the Internal Market as a case study, which leads him to note again that there is no real predisposition to the neoliberal option. Thus, and up to the conclusions that he draws on governance, the book issues a warning: one day, the political choices that were made to apply the Treaty in this way rather than another will have to be justified. Michel Theys
*** LOUIS CHAUVE: La spirale du déclassement. Essai sur la société des illusions. Editions du Seuil (25 bd Romain-Rolland, F-75014 Paris. Email: contact@seuil.com – Internet: http://www.seuil.com ). 2016, 218 pp, €16. ISBN 978-2-02-107284-6.
This book should be proscribed for anyone with depressive tendencies because it will confirm to them that the world – and European countries in particular – is going very badly indeed. The diagnosis by sociologist Louis Chauvel is as black as can be, overwhelming even: the current deepening of inequalities ‘leading some of the middle classes and new generations to follow the popular classes’ slide into impoverishment, leading to a general spiral of déclassement.’ Clearly, the ‘middle class civilisation’ that triumphed in the first half of the last century, guaranteeing progress for all (near enough) and for future generations, is dying before our very eyes – or at least the eyes of those prepared to look reality in the face. The social pyramid wanting the world to shift again in favour of ‘heirs protected by their expectations of heritage’ to the detriment of ‘simple holders of diplomas that have depreciated in value on the labour market’ is paving the way for an explosive future on the social front, with a cocktail of a clash of generations and class inequalities. Professor at the University of Luxembourg and researcher at the Observatoire Sociologique de Changement at Sciences Po, the author indicates that he is not carrying out an exercise in future prospects, since he sees this (backing it up with evidence) as a process that has already begun and is difficult to stop. No, he compares it with the bell that rings to indicate danger so that the drama does not become fatefully ‘inevitable’ if citizens - and worse, their leaders – persist in ignoring it. Deploring the illusions and false representations propagated by the ‘sociology of deconstruction’ that has held sway in recent decades and paved the way for a ‘world in ruin,’ he invites scientists to put words to the problems: ‘It is not by clamouring that déclassement comes from an irrational fear, that the middle classes are coming through the crisis rather well and that the sacrificed generations are just a myth, it is not in this way that we will be able to magic away these social facts that are advancing at their own pace, ignoring the illusions in which we are cradling the population./ Without returning to a reality that is objectively ‘true,’ it will not be possible to face with any chance of success the five elements that are eroding away the ‘middle class civilisation’ that is currently on its deathbed. Firstly, there is the ‘vertiginous rise of inequality through the repatrimonialisation of wealth’ through which can be seen ‘the arrival of a century of gaping inequality’ with the ‘insurrectionary effect’ that risks arising from it. There is also the ‘destabilisation of society’s centre of gravity’ caused by the upsetting of the middle class. Then there is the clash of generations that could become a virulent poison, since everything has been done to ‘give the next generation rising needs and declining economic means.’ Finally, there is the decent into hell of European countries and more fundamentally still, the ‘spiral of illusions’ prevailing there due to the ‘expiry of a large majority of political and intellectual personnel still living in a world that other people have seen disappearing for thirty years.’ But the author concludes that it is pointless to seek one’s salvation in the search for comforting scapegoats: it is when they stop preferring to ‘lie rather than face reality’ that Europeans (Westerners?) will have the chance to find solutions. This is what this essay, which will go down in history, calls on them to do. (MT)
*** Futuribles. L’anticipation au service de l’action. Futuribles Sarl (47 rue de Babylone, F-75007 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 53633770 – Fax: 42226554 – Email: revue@futuribles.com – Internet: http://www.futuribles.com ). March-April 2017, No. 417, 136 pp, €22. Annual subscription: €115. ISBN 978-2-84387-430-7.
The growing crisis in the West is the focus of this issue of the French future prospects review that has been an authority for decades. The question is addressed from various complementary angles. Political pathologies are addressed in the editorial, with Hugues de Jouvenel observing that faced with the ills that Western societies are suffering from (growing inequality, the social escalator having broken down, damaged social structures, etc), governments are ever more frequently seen as ‘mere managers of current affairs,’ discredited because unable to provide solutions to the ‘problem of solidarity and confidence.’ In this context, this issue of Futuribles opens with a rendez-vous on the question of which long-term visions are inspiring political leaders, the first author to speak being Jean-Paul Delevoye. Another substantial part of the review is devoted to economic and social aspects of the problem, with specialists trying to discern the causes of the slightest growth in productivity. This growth is analysed over a lengthy period of time and leads to a list of the so far unkept promises of arriving in the ‘third industrial revolution’ dear to Jeremy Rifkin, also taking a look at the impact of digitalisation in the insurance sector. Two contributions look at Brexit: international civil servant Derek Martin calls for a focus on the doubts that will not fail to be nourished by ‘soft Brexiters’ and that may perhaps encourage Westminster to give them their say in a new referendum, which he says should be seen as a blessing for the EU27; in his ‘Tribune Européenne column, Jean-François Drevet comes close to joining him in pointing out firstly that ‘the Brexiters are leading their country into a historic wrong direction, as was experienced by Portugal under Salazar, whose obsession with his greatness led to fifteen years of colonial wars,’ and also – above all, even! – that ‘Europe is not easy to construct, but it might be even more difficult to undo.’ (MT)
*** ARISTIDIS CHATZIS: Le libéralisme. Editions Papadopoulos (9 Kapodistriou, GR-14452 Metamorphosi. Tel: (30-210) 2846074 – Fax: 2817127 – Email: info@epbooks.gr – Internet: http://www.epbooks.gr ). 2017, 112 pp, €10.99. ISBN 978-960-569-623-8.
The liberal approach to politics, social relations and the economy differs in the priority it places on free will. The great liberal thinkers that gave rise to this school of thought wanted people to be fully free when they made choices, which meant for them that an open society needed to be constructed. The author, professor at the philosophy and history of science department of Athens National University after his Doctorate in Law and Economics at Chicago University, notes that the focus placed by liberals on freedom of individuals, ideas, activities and options, this freedom being associated with tolerance and placing the priority on progress, and hence on innovation, creates so many areas of conflict with other philosophical and political approaches. This introduction to the principles of liberalism describes the basic principles and ideas: tolerance, personal possessions, the rule of law and human rights, with Aristidis Chatzis explaining how these force lines have resolutely influenced constitutional democracies. He also addresses more sensitive issues, for example the relation between liberal conceptions of the market and capitalism or the possibility of criticising economic liberalism. (AKa)
*** THEODOROS LIANOS: L'économie avec des mots simples. Editions Papazisi (2 rue Nikitara, GR-10678 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3822496 – Fax: 3809020 - Email: papazisi@otenet.gr – Internet: http://www.papazisi.gr ). 2017, 212 pp, €12.72. ISBN 978-960-02-3288-2.
Economic concepts and the terminology used to express them are the key ingredients of daily conversations, whether private or public. They are omnipresent in newspaper articles (not only those in the economic and financial pages), on the radio, television debates and so on. Economic terms and concepts that nobody ever bothers to explain are broadcast far and wide. It is to correct this problem that Theodoros Lianos has devoted this ‘economics made simple’ book. Emeritus professor of economics at Athens University, head of the "South-Eastern Europe Journal of Economics" magazine and regular editorialist on a number of Greek newspapers, the author starts by pointing out that many people have no clear idea about what globalisation, inflation, unemployment or a stock market portfolio mean. Their knowledge is at best incomplete and at worse plain wrong. It is to correct this that the author has written the book, feeling that correct information about general financial issues can be extremely useful, both privately and collectively, as it will lead to more appropriate decisions being taken. Once again, decisions in both the private sphere and in wider society... (AKa)