Schmidt Delivers London BU Alumni Lecture
Vivien Schmidt, Director of the Center for the Study of Europe, recently traveled to London to deliver the Kleh Family Foundation Distinguished Lecture on “The Eurozone Crisis: A Problem of Economics or Politics.” Over 100 people attended the sold-out event at the Boston University London Center in South Kensington.
“I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to talk about the Eurozone crisis with such a wonderfully responsive( and large) audience of BU Alums in London. And I was delighted to have such great questions at the end,” Schmidt said. “It was also very nice to reconnect with one or two of my former students.”
In her lecture, Schmidt argued that Eurozone crisis is not just about the economics, it is also about politics. The EU’s flawed economic policies have left Europe at risk of deflation, with slow growth, high unemployment, rising inequality, and a humanitarian crisis threatening the poorest Europeans. The toxic politics in response have become increasingly Eurosceptic and volatile, as citizens’ loss of trust and confidence in national governments and the EU have resulted in the cycling of incumbent governments and the rise of extremist parties and populist movements.
The EU’s governance processes, focused on ‘governing by the rules and ruling by the numbers,’ have only exacerbated these problems, while also undermining national democracies. Is there any way out of the Eurozone crisis for the EU? Following her discussion of the challenges facing the EU in the crisis, Schmidt speculated on possible scenarios for the future.
This article was shared from the Center for the Study of Europe, an affiliated regional studies center of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University.
Schmidt is the Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration, as well as a Professor of International Relations and Political Science. Her research focuses on European political economy, institutions, democracy, and political theory. Learn more about her here.