Lecture on April 17, 2015
Speaker: Nicolas Jabko, Department of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University
Abstract:
The austerity policies that European policymakers adopted in response to the Eurozone crisis are often interpreted as the product of institutionalized neoliberal ideas. This interpretation is partly due to the prevalence of common yet ultimately misleading metaphorical representations of ideas as coherent matrices of action. Conventional metaphors of ideas – as switchmen, paradigms, or blueprints – overstate their degree of programmatic coherence, and prevent us from seeing institutions as sites of contestation, ambiguity, and change. Under the pressure of an acute crisis, the institutions of the Eurozone have evolved considerably – from a “no-bailout” to a conditional bailout regime. This article traces key institutional innovations back to a new and contested repertoire of governance that became prevalent during the crisis. Policymakers agreed that “stronger governance” was necessary, yet they disagreed over how to perform such governance. This largely overlooked conflict produced innovations that typically mixed austerity and unconventional remedies. The advantage of a performative metaphor of ideas, as repertoires for action, is to direct our attention to such active contestation, and thus to open to a more realistic and dynamic view of institutions and politics.
Free entrance.
When?
11:30am-1:00pm (tbc)
Where?
Université de Montréal
Room 4240, 4th floor
3200 Jean-Brillant (tbc)
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