Failing Forward? The Euro Crisis and the Incomplete Nature of European Integration
Failing Forward? The Euro Crisis and the Incomplete Nature of European Integration
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DOI：
10.1177/0010414015617966
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发表时间：
2016-06-01
影响因子：
5
通讯作者：
Meunier, Sophie
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Jones, Erik;Kelemen, R. Daniel;Meunier, Sophie
欧盟（EU）将单一市场与共同货币结合起来的计划从一开始就不完整。本文表明，欧洲经济与货币联盟（EMU）治理架构的不完备既是欧元危机的原因之一，也是应对危机的一种典型政策模式。我们以欧元区最近的经验为例，提出了一个“前进失败”的论点来解释欧洲一体化的动态：政府间谈判导致不完整性，因为它迫使具有不同偏好的国家选择最小公分母的解决方案。不完整会释放出导致危机的力量。作为回应，成员国再次同意采取最低公分母的解决方案，解决危机并深化一体化。迄今为止，这种渐进式改革、政策失败、进一步改革的连续循环，成功地维持了欧洲一体化和欧元。然而，这种方法有明显的风险。在经济上，这种渐进式建设欧洲货币联盟的政策失败对许多危机缠身的成员国的公民来说是灾难性的。在政治上，人们认为欧盟不断处于危机之中，需要改革来挽救欧盟，这种看法正在削弱民众对欧洲一体化的支持。
The European Union (EU) project of combining a single market with a common currency was incomplete from its inception. This article shows that the incompleteness of the governance architecture of Europe's Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was both a cause of the euro crisis and a characteristic pattern of the policy responses to the crisis. We develop a "failing forward" argument to explain the dynamics of European integration using recent experience in the eurozone as an illustration: Intergovernmental bargaining leads to incompleteness because it forces states with diverse preferences to settle on lowest common denominator solutions. Incompleteness then unleashes forces that lead to crisis. Member states respond by again agreeing to lowest common denominator solutions, which address the crisis and lead to deeper integration. To date, this sequential cycle of piecemeal reform, followed by policy failure, followed by further reform, has managed to sustain both the European project and the common currency. However, this approach entails clear risks. Economically, the policy failures engendered by this incremental approach to the construction of EMU have been catastrophic for the citizens of many crisis-plagued member states. Politically, the perception that the EU is constantly in crisis and in need of reforms to salvage the union is undermining popular support for European integration.