European Financial Capitalism and the Politics of (De-)financialization

Abstract

Over recent decades, the political economy of the European Union has been marked by the emergence of a European financial capitalism and various processes of financialization. This article aims to explore the constitutive role of political strategies, decisions and conflicts in these developments, in particular with regard to ongoing European crises tendencies. For this purpose, it draws on a neo-Gramscian and regulationist conceptual framework which differentiates between three levels of analysis: that of a ‘historic bloc’ or specific societal formation; a ‘hegemonic bloc’ or particular alliance of leading social forces; and ‘political projects’, which are problem- or crisis-induced political initiatives. The article shows that in the course of the crisis the major political projects have been initiated or controlled by a finance-dominated transnational alliance. In this sense, European financial capitalism and financialization have been politically promoted and stabilized, so far. At the same time, however, the article also identifies increasing political contradictions and conflicts which indicate the precarious nature of past stabilization attempts.

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