Abstract
The first section in this chapter presents the comparative results of the analysis. It demonstrates that actors supplied leadership only if they expected individual benefits from doing so. The interplay of power resources, preference distribution, and institutional constraint accounts for the impact of leadership. The second section in this chapter argues that member states or institutions only in rare cases provided leadership. Powerful actors such as Germany or the European Central Bank often lack the incentives to provide leadership, whereas those motivated to take the lead, such as the “debtor states” or the European Parliament, lack the necessary resources. The limited impact of leadership can be explained by diverging preferences and high institutional hurdles for reform. Finally, the model predicts a pessimistic scenario regarding future emergence of leadership in EMU.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Monetary dominance means that fiscal authorities adjust to the central bank’s monetary policy. This is supposed to result in lower debt ratios and more price stability. In the case of fiscal dominance, instead, the central banks need to adjust their decisions to the fiscal authorities, which design their policy independently.
- 2.
The eurozone’s collective action problem is twofold: on the one hand, a non-optimal currency union bears incentives for free-riding , which needs to be regulated; on the other hand, it requires a certain degree of redistribution. EMU lacks institutional rules with regard to both problems (Chapter 4).
- 3.
- 4.
See, for instance, Slovakia’s abstention from the Greek Loan Facility.
References
Bénassy-Quéré, Agnès, et al. 2018. Reconciling Risk Sharing with Market Discipline: A Constructive Approach to Euro Area Reform. CEPR Policy Insight 91, London.
Bressanelli, Edoardo, and Nicola Chelotti. 2016. The Shadow of the European Council: Understanding Legislation on Economic Governance. Journal of European Integration 38 (5): 511–525.
Bulmer, Simon. 2014. Germany and the Eurozone Crisis: Between Hegemony and Domestic Politics. West European Politics 37 (6): 1244–1263.
Bulmer, Simon, and William E. Paterson. 2013. Germany as the EU’s Reluctant Hegemon? Of Economic Strength and Political Constraints. Journal of European Public Policy 20 (10): 1387–1405.
Bulmer, Simon, and William E. Paterson. 2018. Germany and the European Union: Europe’s Reluctant Hegemon? London: Red Globe Press.
Caporaso, James A., and Martin Rhodes. 2016. Introduction: The Political and Economic Dynamics of the Eurozone Crisis. In The Political and Economic Dynamics of the Eurozone Crisis, ed. James A. Caporaso and Martin Rhodes, 1–14. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Carstensen, Martin B., and Vivien A. Schmidt. 2018. Power and Changing Modes of Governance in the Euro Crisis. Governance 31 (4): 609–624.
Copelovitch, Mark, Jeffry Frieden, and Stefanie Walter. 2016. The Political Economy of the Euro Crisis. Comparative Political Studies 49 (7): 811–840.
De Grauwe, Paul, and Yuemei Ji. 2015. Correcting for the Eurozone Design Failures: The Role of the ECB. Journal of European Integration 37 (7): 739–754.
De Rynck, Stefaan. 2016. Banking on a Union: The Politics of Changing Eurozone Banking Supervision. Journal of European Public Policy 23 (1): 119–135.
Dyson, Kenneth. 2017. Playing for High Stakes: The Eurozone Crisis. In The European Union in Crisis, ed. Desmond Dinan, Neill Nugent, and William E. Paterson, 54–76. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Frieden, Jeffry, and Stefanie Walter. 2017. Understanding the Political Economy of the Eurozone Crisis. Annual Review of Political Science 20 (1): 371–390.
Henning, Randall C. 2016. The ECB as a Strategic Actor: Central Banking in a Politically Fragmented Monetary Union. In The Political and Economic Dynamics of the Eurozone Crisis, ed. James A. Caporaso and Martin Rhodes. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hodson, Dermot. 2013. The Little Engine That Wouldn’t: Supranational Entrepreneurship and the Barroso Commission. Journal of European Integration 35 (3): 301–314.
Jacoby, Wade. 2015. Europe’s New German Problem: The Timing of Politics and the Politics of Timing. In The Future of the Euro, ed. Matthias Matthijs and Mark Blyth, 187–209. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jones, Erik. 2010. Merkel’s Folly. Survival 52 (3): 21–38.
Kindleberger, Charles P. 1981. Dominance and Leadership in the International Economy: Exploitation Public Goods, and Free Rides. International Studies Quarterly 25 (2): 242–254.
Lindberg, Leon N., and Stuart A. Scheingold. 1970. Europe’s Would-Be Polity: Patterns of Change in the European Community. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Lombardi, Domenico, and Manuela Moschella. 2016. The Government Bond Buying Programmes of the European Central Bank: An Analysis of Their Policy Settings. Journal of European Public Policy 23 (6): 851–870.
Matthijs, Matthias, and Mark Blyth. 2011. Why Only Germany Can Fix the Euro: Reading Kindleberger in Berlin. Foreign Affairs Snapshot, November 17. Available online at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/germany/2011-11-17/why-only-germany-can-fix-euro, rev. 2016–05–31.
Moravcsik, Andrew. 1999a. A New Statecraft? Supranational Entrepreneurs and International Cooperation. International Organization 53 (2): 267–306.
Moravcsik, Andrew. 1999b. Theory and Method in the Study of International Negotiation: A Rejoinder to Oran Young. International Organization 53 (4): 811–814.
Nielsen, Bodil, and Sandrino Smeets. 2018. The Role of the EU Institutions in Establishing the Banking Union: Collaborative Leadership in the EMU Reform Process. Journal of European Public Policy 25 (9): 1233–1256.
Niemann, Arne, and Demosthenes Ioannou. 2015. European Economic Integration in Times of Crisis: A Case of Neofunctionalism? Journal of European Public Policy 22 (2): 196–218.
Schäfer, David. 2016. A Banking Union of Ideas? The Impact of Ordoliberalism and the Vicious Circle on the Banking Union. Journal of Common Market Studies 54 (4): 961–980.
Schild, Joachim. 2013. Leadership in Hard Times: Germany, France, and the Management of the Eurozone Crisis. German Politics and Society 31 (1): 24–47.
Schild, Joachim. 2018. Germany and France at Cross Purposes: The Case of Banking Union. Journal of Economic Policy Reform 21 (2): 102–117.
Schimmelfennig, Frank. 2015. Liberal Intergovernmentalism and the Euro Area Crisis. Journal of European Public Policy 22 (2): 177–195.
Schmidt, Vivien A. 2017. Reinterpreting the Rules ‘by Stealth’ in Times of Crisis: A Discursive Institutionalist Analysis of the European Central Bank and the European Commission. West European Politics 39 (5): 1032–1052.
Schoeller, Magnus G. 2018. The Rise and Fall of Merkozy: Franco-German Bilateralism as a Negotiation Strategy in Eurozone Crisis Management. Journal of Common Market Studies 56 (5): 1019–1035.
Torres, Francisco. 2013. EMU’s Legitimacy and the ECB as a Strategic Political Player in the Crisis Context. Journal of European Integration 35 (3): 287–300.
Verdun, Amy. 2017. Political Leadership of the European Central Bank. Journal of European Integration 39 (2): 207–221.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Schoeller, M.G. (2019). Evaluating Leadership: The Hard Case of the Eurozone. In: Leadership in the Eurozone. Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12704-6_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12704-6_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-12703-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-12704-6
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)