A Decade After the Collapse: Financial Crises, Austerity, and Their Responses

A decade and more after the global financial crisis disrupted economies and plunged several states into social and political turmoil, the time is right for researchers to stop and take stock. The crisis – or indeed serial crises – prompted states in Europe and North America to enact a host of disparate measures to stabilize their economies and their societies. In some states, the tool of choice was that of fiscal austerity; drastically reducing public spending while engaging in structural reforms designed to deregulate, and thereby stimulate stagnant national economies. This approach was controversial to say the least, and it drew strong criticism, not only from opposing political parties, but from whole segments of society as well. In the wake of austerity measures being adopted, states in Europe and North America saw the rise in radical social and political movements on both the political left and the political right.

This Research Topic seeks to examine the social, economic, and political responses to austerity in the European context, and to understand how those responses have continued to impact global systems. Scholars are invited to examine how the financial crises reshaped or re-articulated the goals and visions of both right-wing and left-wing politics, and to study what relationship – if any – austerity has to the rise of xenophobic, nationalist, and reactionary movements in Europe and North America.