European states and the euro. Europeanization, variation and convergence

Book abstract:

With the euro now in circulation in twelve of the EU's Member States, this book seeks to move the debate forward focussing on how the euro is affecting eurozone countries rather than how EMU came into being. It aims to identify the scope of EMU's effects, the direction that it imparts to political and policy changes, the mechanisms by which it produces its effects, and the role of domestic institutions, political leadership, and specific forms of discourse in shaping responses.

The book is organised in three parts. Part I looks at the European and global contexts with chapters on Global Integration, Impact on National Institutions and The Political Economy of Fiscal Policy under Monetary Union. Part II addresses domestic political and policy contexts and six nation studies move through Britain and EMU to The Netherlands and EMU via Denmark, France, Italy and Germany. Part III covers sectors, states, and EMU with contributions on politics, banks, and financial market governance in the eurozone, the effects on labour market and wage policies, and why EMU is - or may be - good for European Welfare States.

The author draws all the arguments together in a fulsome conclusion and suggests that over the longer term the EMU and it's contingencies of change combined with security may prove to be a more sustainable and less costly model for coping with the vagaries and volatility of competitive markets than opponents of the European social model have recognised.

Kenneth Dyson is a Fellow of the British Academy, Professor of European Studies at the University of Bradford and co-director of the University's European Briefing Unit.