archive

How to save Europe

From German Law Journal, a special issue on legitimacy and the future of the European Court of Human Rights. R. Daniel Kelemen on his book Eurolegalism: The Transformation of Law and Regulation in the European Union. At a time when Europe is equated with sovereign debt and political powerlessness, one should not forget that the foundations for a European citizenship have already been laid; its potential for democracy needs to be interrogated, as do the cultural resources that it can rely on. Research finds the 19th century "Protestant work ethic" may be at the heart of Europe’s North/South debt crisis split. This economic collapse is a "crisis of bigness": Leopold Kohr warned 50 years ago that the gigantist global system would grow until it imploded — we should have listened. From Eurozine, markets and society: Daniel Daianu on how high finance cripples the economy and corrodes democracy. A fiscal union for the euro: Some lessons from history. Euro armageddon is approaching, but it's too boring and complicated to explain. From the New York Review of Books, Jeff Madrick on how to save Europe. Can financial engineering save the euro? John Cassidy investigates. Chart of the day, Euro bailout edition: This, ladies and gentlemen, is how the sausage gets made. Avinash Persaud on how EU's financial transaction tax is feasible, and if set right, desirable. The Greeks are being unfairly maligned by global financiers — the truth is very different. A social engineering idea: France is hoping that new architecture and new theories about how best to house the poor will solve the problems in a hard-luck Paris suburb. Amid all the incoherent "big society" talk, consider Christiania, a democratic Danish community celebrating 40 years of autonomy.