European Union Financial Crisis: A Marxist Analysis

Petrus K Farneubun

Abstract


European financial crisis poses a serious challenge to the fundamental structure of the European Union, political and financial institutions, as well as the values that bind European together. Different factors have been suggested as the causes of the crisis notably the failure of national government and economic policies. Responding to the crisis, numerous attemps have been proposed to accelerate the recovery, but the crisis still hit Eurozone and brought serious consequences politically and economically. In one side, the crisis severely damages some EU member economy but on the other side, the crisis advantages the other members. Such an inequality not only leads to the crisis but also exacerbate the crisis. Having said that, this paper will demonstrate that marxian conceptual model of inequality or constructed economic imbalance provides a better explanation regarding the causes of
the crisis. Using marxist theoretical framework, this article will further show that introduction of Euro, the accumulation of profit and capital as well as the current European financial system built upon the spirit of capitalism and neoliberalism as the key factors contributing to the crisis and creating inequality.

Keywords


European financial crisis; Marxist; Inequality

Full Text:

PDF

References


Altman, Daniel, Germany’s Moral Obligation to Greece. Foreign Policy. (Online) (http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/07/16/germanys-moralobligation-to-greece-eurozone/?utm_content=buffer63d85&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer).Accessed on 17 July 2015)

Authers, John. 2013. Europe’s Financial Crisis: A Short Guide to how the Euro Fell Into Crisis and the Consequences for the world. New Jersey: Pearson Education

BBC HardTalk Marxist. Interview with David Harvey. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkWvx1QQ76c (accessed on 20 May 2014)

Becker, Werner. 2012. The Euro-Currency for Europe: Striking a Balance of the Single Currency.

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Castells, Manuel, Caraça, João, Cardoso, Gustavo. 2012. The Cultures of the Economic Crisis: An Introduction. In Castells, Manuel, Caraça, João, Cardoso, Gustavo (eds). Aftermath: the Cultures of the Economic Crisis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Cohen, Benjamin J. 2011. The Future of Global Currency: The Euro Versus The Dollar. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge

Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), The Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour and The Austrian Trade Union Federation, 2014. The Fire of Power of the Financial Lobby: A Survey of the Size of the Financial Lobby at the EU Level, The report can beaccessed at http://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/attachments/financial_lobby_report.pdf. (Accessed on 25 November 2014)

Darvas, Zsolt. The Euro Crisis: Ten Roots, But Fewer Solutions. Bruegel Policy Contribution. Issue 2012/17 October 2012.

Dymarski, Wlodzimierz; Frangakis, Marica; and Leaman, Jeremy (eds). 2014.The Deepening Crisis of the European Union: The Case for Radical Change-Analysis and Proposal from the Euro Memo Group. Poznan: Poznan University of Economcis Press Della-Posta, Pomppeo. 2011. Introduction. In Della Posta, Pompeo and Talani, Leila S (eds). Europe and the Financial Crisis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan

Della Posta, Pompeo. 2011. The Euro in the International Monetary System after the Global Financial and Economic Crisis and after the European Public Debt Crisis. In Della Posta, Pompeo and Talani, Leila S (eds).Europe and the Financial Crisis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan

European Commission, Economic Crisis in Europe: Causes and Consequences and Responses. European Economy 7/2009. (Online) (http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/publication15887_en.pdf ) (accesssed on 25 October 2014)

Feldstein, Martin, The Failure of the Euro: The Little Currency that Couldn’t. Foreign Policy. January 2011/2012 Issue. (Online) (https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/europe/2011-12-13/failure-euro)(Accessed 14 March 2015)

Friedman, Milton, The Euro: Monetary Unity to Political Disunity? (Online) (https://www.project- syndicate.org/commentary/theeuro—monetary-unity-to-political-disunity) (Accessed on 14 July2015)

Grauwe, Paul D, The Financial Crisis and the Future of the Eurozone. Bruges Economic Policy Briefings 2010. (Online) (https://www.coleurope.eu/sites/default/files/uploads/page/beep_21.pdf) accessed on (22 August 2014).

Harvey, David. 2010. The Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press

_______ 2010. A Companion to Marx’s Capital. London: Verso Henning, Dietmar, How Germany’s super-rich benefit from the economic crisis. http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2012/10/richo16.html. (accessed on 25 May 2014)

Kindleberger, Charles P. and Aliber, Robert Z. Manias. 2005. Panics and Crashes: A History of Financial Crisis (5th). New York: Palgrave Macmillan

Marx, Karl. 1999. Capital. Vol. 1: The Process of Production of Capital. Translated by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling and edited by Fredrick Engels. Moscow: Progress Publishers Moravcsik, Andrew. Europe After the Crisis: How to Sustain a Common Currency. Journal of Foreign Affairs, Vol. 91 No.3 May/June 2012.

New York Times, Greece’s Debt Crisis Explained. (Online) (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/business/international/greecedebt-crisis-euro.html?_r=0) (Accessed on 14 July 2015)

Novotny, Vit (ed). 2013. From Reform to Growth: Managing the Economic Crisis in Europe. Centre for European Studies. Brussels: Eburon

Pew Research Center, 2013. Pew Research Global Attitude Project: Chapter 2. Economic Crisis Now and EU Crisis. (Online) http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/05/13/chapter-2-economic- crisisnow-an-eu-crisis/ (accessed on 23 July 2014)

Reisenbichler, Alexander and Morgan, Kimberly J., 2013. How German Won the Euro Crisis and why Its Gains Could be Fleeting. (Online) (http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/139520/alexanderreisenbichler-and-kimberly- j-morgan/how-germany-won-theeuro-crisis) (Accessed on 20 August 2014)

Shambaugh, Jay C. 2012. The Euro’s Three Crisis. Spring BrookingsPapers on Economic Activity. The Brookings Institution

Soll, Jacob, Germany’s Destructive Anger. New York Times July 15,2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/15/opiniongermanysdestructive-anger.html?_r=0 (accessed on 17 July 2015)

Torreblanca, Ignacio J and Leonard, Mark, The Continent Wide Rise of Euroscepticism. European Council on Foreign Relations PolicyMemo. (Online) (http://www.ecfr.eu/page/-/ECFR79_EUROSCEPTICISM_BRIEF_AW.pdf) (Accessed on 18 November 2014)

Transnational Institute and Corporate Europe Observatory, 2014. Profiting from Crisis: How Corporations and Lawyers are Scavenging Profits from Europe’s crisis countries. (Online) ( http://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/profiting-fromcrisis_0.pdf) (accessed on 30 October 2014)

Werthers, Patrick B. (ed). 2011. Europe: Financial Crisis and Security Issues. New York




DOI: https://doi.org/10.18196/hi.2016.0086.60-66

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2016 Jurnal Hubungan Internasional

 Jurnal Hubungan Internasional Indexed by:

      


Editorial Office of Jurnal Hubungan Internasional 

Ki Bagus Hadikusumo Building, E4, 1st floor, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta
Jl. Brawijaya, Tamantirto, Kasihan, Bantul, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, 55183, Indonesia
jurnalhi@umy.ac.id ariekusumapaksi@umy.ac.id

 


Jurnal Hubungan Internasional in collaboration with:

   


Creative Commons License   

Jurnal Hubungan Internasional is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

View My Stats