As with the previous version (Ashgate 2004), this second edition is divided, for didactic purposes, into two parts. The first part provides an overview of political science approaches to European political economy, both mainstream and critical ones. As such, it contributes directly to the current debate among scholars of political science and international political economy concerning the nature of the process of European integration. The second part provides alternative explanations of some European economic policy events - the ECB, banking regulation, fiscal co-ordination, the crisis of the euro-zone, social policy and unemployment - allowing the reader to assess the explanatory value of competing approaches.
Biography
Leila Simona Talani is a Reader (Associate Professor) in International Political Economy at King's College London, UK.
’The second edition of European Political Economy builds on the considerable strengths of the first. Talani has produced a comprehensive and accessible survey of the main political economic perspectives, both mainstream and critical, on European integration. Her application of theory to the key contemporary problems of the EU - and in particular the crisis of the Eurozone - is insightful and judicious. This book is a superb introduction to the key theoretical issues and policy debates surrounding the EU.’ Alan W. Cafruny, Hamilton College, USA ’The deep crisis of the European integration project, laid bare by the Eurozone debt crisis, raises the question of what light political economy can shed on the causes. Talani provides us with a thorough review of the study of Europe from a political economy perspective. A must read for anyone interested in European political economy, and particularly in the crisis and perspectives of monetary union and the European social model.’ Henk Overbeek, Free University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
