The Currency of Ideas:
Monetary Politics in the European Union
The Currency of Ideas follows the development of monetary integration within the European Monetary Union, leading to the creation of a single European currency. In examining the progress made since Bretton Woods, Kathleen McNamara identifies key events during this period that led to a consensus among European leaders to achieve monetary stability within the European Monetary System and the eventual creation of the European Monetary Union.
The book underlines rising capital mobility, together with changes in political views towards a government role in monetary policy making, as the primary impetus for reaching consensus on monetary union. It also warns of a possible political backlash from unresolved social tensions.
While highlighting a number of constraints created by economic interdependence, Kathleen McNamara rejects the proposition that government policy is determined solely by international capital markets. She demonstrates that the process of monetary integration has been shaped over many decades by the shared beliefs of European policy makers, and the interpretations of their experiences in the global economy. The findings presented in The Currency of Ideas extend beyond Europe to answer a broader question about the effects of international capital flows on nation states around the world.
Fifty years after the Treaty of Rome, the European Union continues along the path to closer economic and political integration. Making History : European Integration and Institutional Change at Fifty is a comprehensive examination of unresolved tensions that exist in European governance at an important crossroads in its political and institutional trajectory. This volume, edited by Sophie Meunier and Kathleen McNamara, brings together a valuable selection of studies by leading scholars in the field of European integration who provide key insights into its future direction.
Having evolved to the point where it now encompasses a much greater scope of responsibilities than were originally envisioned, the European Union represents the most successful example of political and economic integration within a common institutional framework. This encyclopedic book uses the tools of "historical institutionalism" to analyze the future development of this continuing process of European integration, an analysis that is based upon the expected behaviour of existing and proposed institutions across a wide range of policy issues.
