Legitimating Austerity

This book proposes a new analytical angle to the politics of austerity in southern Europe after the euro crisis.

The post-pandemic economic recession has plunged European leaders into fresh debates about how the European economy should be governed. Over a decade since the outset of the euro crisis, the role of austerity and its alternatives remains at the core of political dispute, with the memory of bailouts, conditionality, and the Troika in southern Europe still nourishing profound disagreements.

Contrary to dominant narratives about austerity, domestic politics is central to the definition and legitimation of austerity across countries. Drawing comparisons between Greece, Portugal, and Spain during this period, the book traces the processes of crisis construal and of implementation of austerity, as well as the contentious politics that it generated. In doing so, it demonstrates how the political project of austerity in southern Europe was co-construed at the national, international, and transnational levels, with lessons for new ways to deal with economic recessions.