Crisis spaces: structures, struggles and solidarity in Southern Europe

Ten years since the beginning of the Great Recession two major questions remain: was austerity the correct approach for Eurozone countries dealing with public debt crises? Did austerity and the ‘reform packages’ associated with it solve the structural economic problems affecting the Southern periphery of Europe? This book makes an excellent contribution to this debate by arguing that though the first question usually takes precedence in media and academic discussions on the topic, the question of the effect of austerity is more important. Only by understanding how long-term processes of uneven development were exacerbated by the introduction of the Euro, can one explain the unravelling of productive structures in the countries of Southern Europe (SE) and their shift towards debt-fuelled investment and growth. As such, a reduction in unit labour costs through structural adjustment (ie causing periods of long-term unemployment to force individuals to migrate or to accept work for lower wages), is unlikely to solve any structural issues, since it is hardly the solution to help an economy restructure towards the production of higher-value added goods and services. Not to mention the scale of human suffering brought about by austerity, as detailed in this book, and which ranged from rates of unemployment of 25% for the general population (and 50% for the young) in Greece and Spain, to dramatic rises in suicides and deaths due to a lack of health care, especially in Greece.