Saving Europe: How National Politics Nearly Destroyed the Euro - Hardcover

Bastasin, Carlo

4.07

15 ratings by Goodreads

9780815721963: Saving Europe: How National Politics Nearly Destroyed the Euro

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 081572196X ISBN 13: 9780815721963

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press, 2012

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Carlo Bastasin, an economist and journalist, reveals the unknown events that have happened behind the scenes in European capitals during the ongoing financial crisis, beginning in 2008 with the collapse of major financial institutions. He argues that the crisis in the euro-zone has a political origin in the abuses of national politics unable to cope with the pressure of globalization. Moreover, the crisis is reinforced even now by the obstinate defense of national prerogatives in politics and finance and by the lack of commitment for shared or supranational sovereignty. While the consensus view is that monetary union was a flawed project and must be amended, Bastasin shows that the failures have to do almost entirely with national opportunism —not only in Greece but everywhere, not least in Germany.
Saving Europe is the first major book on these momentous developments and their likely ramifications. Bastasin's compelling work is an engrossing historical chronicle, weaving moments of high drama with individual personalities on the world stage. Germany chancellor Angela Merkel, French president Nicolas Sarkozy, and British prime minister Gordon Brown play central roles. This is also a scholarly attempt to make larger sense of what happened —and what could happen next. Given the critical role and importance of Europe within the world economy as well as growing speculation that the euro might disappear, this is essential reading for anyone trying to grasp international economics. Just as important, it is a fascinating tale of people, personalities, and power. There is no other book like it.

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About the Author:

Carlo Bastasin, an economist and a journalist, is currently a nonresident senior fellow in Foreign Policy Studies and Global Economy and Development at the Brookings Institution. A leading commentator for the Italian daily Il Sole-24 Ore, from 2009 to 2010, he was a visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Review:

Financial Times: Carlo Bastasin does an admirable job in analysing the eurozone's economic challenges and is a sure-footed guide through the seemingly endless European Union summit meetings that were supposed to resolve them. He also has an eye for the human detail that makes his sad account of institutional muddle surprisingly compelling.

Corriere della Sera: A reconstruction that may be considered definitive. Revelations on the European negotiations are written with talent and go hand in hand with no-esoteric economic analysis and with the right amount of realism to reach the political substance.

Svenska Dagbladet: Anyone looking for general knowledge and deeper understanding of the crisis, I can recommend a formidable analysis by Carlo Bastasin: Saving Europe. The author is a very unusual combination of a qualified economist and driven journalism.

Marco Onado (Bocconi University): In order to understand the complexity of the European crisis, we need three kind of interpretations: political, economic and historical. In his book, Saving Europe, Bastasin has the rare ability to use them all with great rigor, and this gives us a thorough and original analysis, that - unlike many books published on the crisis in recent years - is now at least as valid and alive as at the time when the book was written.

Olli Rehn (EU Commissioner): my favorite is Carlo Bastasin's "Saving Europe". It is based on a very sound understanding of the economics and politics of the euro and it is well researched. Bloomberg's readers' list. Saving Europe among the best books of 2012

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