The Impact of Social Values on the EU Austerity Policy
| Název práce v češtině: | The Impact of Social Values on the EU Austerity Policy |
|---|---|
| Název v anglickém jazyce: | The Impact of Social Values on the EU Austerity Policy |
| Klíčová slova: | European Union, Social Values, Austerity Policy |
| Klíčová slova anglicky: | European Union, Social Values, Austerity Policy |
| Akademický rok vypsání: | 2016/2017 |
| Typ práce: | diplomová práce |
| Jazyk práce: | angličtina |
| Ústav: | Katedra politologie (23-KP) |
| Vedoucí / školitel: | Janusz Salamon, Ph.D. |
| Řešitel: |
| Zásady pro vypracování |
| Working hypotheses:
1. Hypothesis #1: The policy response of the European Union in the initial stages of the European Crisis was not the appropriate policy response. 2. Hypothesis #2: Economic and political considerations are not sufficient in explaining the policy response. 3. Hypothesis #3: Ethical and axiological considerations played a role in shaping the EU’s policy response to the crisis. The expected title of your thesis: The Impact of Social Values on the EU Austerity Policy Methodology: The methods of qualitative and quantitative analysis will be used to explore and assess the political and economic factors that motivated the austerity policy in the European Union. Particularly, it will be used to assess if these factors are enough to justify the policy that was enacted. Since many contrasting opinions have been voiced on the matter, the method of qualitative literature review will be employed to provide the necessary background to the arguments resulting from a scholarly research and put forward in defence of the main thesis of this dissertation. To substantiate the hypothesis that axiological considerations played a role in shaping the policy response of the EU, I will draw on the work of Blyth, who writes extensively on the role of ideas on economic policy and specifically on the EU’s response to the crisis. I will also attempt to adapt Lee’s vector error correction model to analyse the impact of ideas on European economic policy. Outline: 1. Introduction 2. Theoretical backgrounds and the review of world literature 3. An analysis of the economical justifications of the policy response 4. An analysis of axiological justifications for the policy response 6. Conclusions 7. References / Bibliography |
| Seznam odborné literatury |
| Preliminary references:
Blyth, Mark. "Austerity as ideology: A reply to my critics." Comparative European Politics 11.6 (2013): 737-751. Blyth, Mark. "The austerity delusion: why a bad idea won over the west." Foreign Aff. 92 (2013): 41. Frankfurter, George M., and Elton G. McGoun. "Ideology and the theory of financial economics." Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 39.2 (1999): 159-177. Helleiner, Eric. "Understanding the 2007–2008 global financial crisis: Lessons for scholars of international political economy." Annual Review of Political Science 14 (2011): 67-87. Henderson, David. Innocence and design: the influence of economic ideas on policy. Blackwell, 1986. Jabko, N. (2013) The political appeal of austerity. Comparative European Politics 11 (6): 705–712. Lee, Michael. "How many lightbulbs does it take to change the financial system? Economic ideas and financial regulation, 1846–2007." The British Journal of Politics and International Relations (2016): 1369148116668078. McNamara, Kathleen R. The currency of ideas: monetary politics in the European Union. Cornell University Press, 1998. Peck, Jamie. "Austere reason, and the eschatology of neoliberalism’s End Times." Comparative European Politics 11.6 (2013): 713-721. Risse, Thomas, et al. "To Euro or not to Euro? The EMU and identity politics in the European Union." European Journal of International Relations 5.2 (1999): 147-187. Truger, Achim. "Austerity in the euro area: the sad state of economic policy in Germany and the EU." European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies (2013). Weber, Max. "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism." (2009). |
| Předběžná náplň práce |
| Topic characteristics / Research Question(s):
My thesis will focus on the research question: to what extent was the European Union’s policy response to the European Sovereign Debt Crisis shaped by axiological assumptions. In most literature regarding the EU’s policy response to the crisis, it is asserted that rather than purely economic or political considerations, axiological assumptions influenced the way that policy-makers in the EU addressed the crisis. In essence these theories hold that, rather than being purely based on factual economic data, the European policy response was influenced by ideological and ethical considerations. This is a theory that particular features in works discussing the policies of austerity, which are held by many to be a policy mismatch for addressing the type of economic difficulties the European economic system faced. However, in-depth analysis about the merit of this theory is so far limited. By assessing the merit of this theory, I hope to contribute to explaining the European policy response, and the wider discourse on the interplay between axiology and economic policy. |
| Předběžná náplň práce v anglickém jazyce |
| Topic characteristics / Research Question(s):
My thesis will focus on the research question: to what extent was the European Union’s policy response to the European Sovereign Debt Crisis shaped by axiological assumptions. In most literature regarding the EU’s policy response to the crisis, it is asserted that rather than purely economic or political considerations, axiological assumptions influenced the way that policy-makers in the EU addressed the crisis. In essence these theories hold that, rather than being purely based on factual economic data, the European policy response was influenced by ideological and ethical considerations. This is a theory that particular features in works discussing the policies of austerity, which are held by many to be a policy mismatch for addressing the type of economic difficulties the European economic system faced. However, in-depth analysis about the merit of this theory is so far limited. By assessing the merit of this theory, I hope to contribute to explaining the European policy response, and the wider discourse on the interplay between axiology and economic policy. |