Varieties of neoliberalism? Restructuring in large industrially dependent regions across Western and Eastern Europe

摘要

The recent travails of the European Constitution, now Reform Treaty, illustrate thedivergence of views on European integration. To many commentators and academics,European integration has come to represent the establishment of a neoliberal Europecharacterized by a 'negative' form of integration. This neoliberalization of Europeaneconomies has been underpinned by the perceived threat of globalization and globalcompetition leading to the wholesale restructuring of European economies over thepast three decades. However, this article does not assume that globalization andneoliberal integration have homogenization effects; rather, it argues that neoliberaliza-tion as a process has produced varieties of neoliberalism across Europe and not onehegemonic form of capitalism. To make this argument, the article focuses on therationale behind neoliberal policies in different European countries, the specificstrategies these countries have pursued and the impacts that these strategies havehad on employment and growth in large industrially dependent regions.