Legitimating Austerity: The Politics of Crisis in Southern Europe (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781350405332)

This book reexamines the politics of austerity during the euro crisis, challenging conventional narratives of austerity as either an inevitable economic remedy or an external imposition. Focusing on Greece, Portugal, and Spain, it demonstrates that austerity was a political project shaped and contested across domestic, international, and transnational levels. Drawing on extensive empirical material, the book explores how austerity policies were legitimated in southern Europe and how they evolved throughout the crisis. It analyses the construction of crisis narratives, and the critical role of national actors in rooting the crisis in domestic failure. It examines the implementation of austerity policies, revealing how they were justified but also malleable and contingent upon political work. And it shows how austerity was opposed by an increasingly transnational social movement. The book offers critical insights into the politics of crisis management and the contested legacy of austerity in contemporary debates on how to govern the European economy.

Author: Tiago Moreira Ramalho
ISBN-10: 1350405337
ISBN-13: 9781350405332
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Language: English
Published: 09/17/2026
Pages: 264
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 1.00d