Between Voters and Eurocrats

How Do Governments Justify their Budgets?

Inbunden, Engelska, 2024

1 419 kr

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How do governments in Europe justify their budgets towards the national parliament? Are their socioeconomic policies shaped more by electoral pressures or by their commitments towards the European Union? In Between Voters and Eurocrats, Johannes Karremans presents a framework and methodology for studying these questions. Based on theories of democratic legitimacy, he argues that if governments temporarily pursue unpopular policies with the justification that they need to be fiscally responsible, in subsequent years they need to become more responsive again to domestic socioeconomic demands in order to maintain the trust of citizens. The recent crises faced by European countries have repeatedly evoked the impression that European economic governance constrains governments' ability to be responsive to domestic demands. Today, especially in the European Union, maintaining financial sustainability of the state has become tied to international obligations. Karremans raises the concern that financial considerations are more important than people's demands and investigates whether this proposition is true through comparative study focussing on five countries - Austria, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain - and explores how governments maintain a balance between institutional responsibility and democratic responsiveness.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2024-02-12
Mått160 x 241 x 17 mm
Vikt430 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor192
FörlagOUP OXFORD
ISBN9780192886583

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Johannes Karremans is Professor in Political Science at the European School of Political and Social Sciences of the Catholic University of Lille. He holds both the Austrian venia docendi and the Italian national scientific habilitation. Prior to his current appointment, Professor Karremans held several post-doctoral positions at the European University Institute, the University of Salzburg, and the University of Lisbon. Between 2019 and 2021, he was holder of the prestigious Lise Meitner grant from the Austrian Science Fund. His research has appeared in several leading scholarly journals, including West European Politics, Party Politics, the Journal of European Public Policy and the Journal of Common Market Studies.

Preface and acknowledgements1: How can governments legitimise their budgets?2: The coding of annual budget plans3: Is globalization reducing responsiveness?4: Responsiveness and responsibility under European economic governance5: Policy justifications under technocratic and populist cabinets6: National variations of responsiveness7: Fiscal responsibility between the Fiscal Compact and the Recovery Fund8: Explaining the balance between responsiveness and responsibility in the eurozoneBibliography

Budgetary speeches are the moments when our elected officials justify their choices to the voters. Karremans uses these moments of political rationalization to explore the trade-off between responsiveness to voters and responsibility to international economic commitments. His results will surprise you. This is a creative and insightful analysis of the interaction between the populist and technocratic impulses in eurozone democracies.