Article contents
The Left Against Europe? A Critical Engagement with New Constitutionalism and Structural Dependence Theory
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2014
Abstract
This article offers a critical engagement with two important strands of left theorizations of European Union integration and globalization, namely, ‘new constitutionalism’ (a sub-form of neo-Gramscian analysis) and ‘structural dependence’ theory (rooted in a more orthodox Marxist approach). These approaches suffer, respectively, from an uncritical or one-sided approach to constitutionalism and competitiveness; and from a theoretical conflation of national with regional political economy. While new constitutionalism under-theorizes regionalism partly because of its implicit ‘methodological nationalism’ and attachment to the ethics of national political economy, structural dependence theory neglects regionalism in pursuing a highly pessimistic structuralist approach to globalization.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 2006
References
2 See, for example, Stuart Holland, The European Imperative, Nottingham, Spokesman, 1993; Stuart Holland, Beyond Maastricht: A New Strategy for Jobs and Recovery in Europe, London, MSF, 1993; Coates, Ken, ‘A European Recovery Programme’, European Labour Forum, 7 (Spring 1992), pp.5–6.Google Scholar
3 See Stirling, John, ‘This Great Europe of Ours: Trade Unions and 1992’, Capital and Class, 45 (1991), pp.7–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4 Similar visions for progressive EU-level social and economic regulation have been advocated by, among others, André Gorz and Alain Lipietz. See André Gorz, Reclaiming Work, Cambridge, Polity Press, 1999, pp. 19–22; Alain Lipietz, Towards a New Economic Order, Cambridge, Polity Press, 1992, pp. 127–46.Google Scholar
5 Baker, David, Gamble, Andrew and Seawright, David, ‘The Conservative Party and Monetary Union’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 4: 3 (2002), pp.413–15.Google Scholar
6 Cartpanis, A. and Herland, M., ‘The Reconstruction of the International Financial Architecture: Keynes's Revenge?’, Review of International Political Economy, 9: 2 (2002), pp.271–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7 See Strange, Gerard, ‘British Trade Unions and European Integration in the 1990s: Politics Versus Political Economy’, Political Studies, 50: 2 (2002), pp.332–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8 See Strange, Gerard, ‘British Trade Unions and Economic and Monetary Union in the European Union’, Capital and Class, 63 (1997), pp.13–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9 Whyman, P., Burkitt, B. and Baimbridge, M., ‘Economic Policies outside EMU: Strategies for a Global Britain’, Political Quarterly, 171: 4 (2000), pp.451–62;CrossRefGoogle ScholarJanet Bush, Larry Elliot and Andrew Gamble, In or Out? Labour and the Euro, Fabian Pamphlet 601, London, Fabian Society, 2002.
10 Stephen Gill, ‘The Emerging World Order and European Change: The Political Economy of the European Union’, in Ralph Miliband and Leo Panitch (eds), New World Order? The Socialist Register 1992, London, Merlin, 1992, pp. 157–96; Gill, Stephen, ‘European Governance and the New Constitutionalism: Economic and Monetary Union and Alternatives to Disciplinary Neoliberalism in Europe’, New Political Economy, 3: 1 (1998), pp.245–80;CrossRefGoogle ScholarBastian van Apeldoorn, Transnational Capitalism and the Struggle over European Integration, London, Routledge, 2002.
11 David Coates, ‘Labour Power and International Competitiveness: A Critique of Ruling Orthodoxies’, in L. Panitch and and Colin Leys (eds), Global Capitalism versus Democracy: The Socialist Register 1999, London, Merlin Press, 1999, pp. 108–41; David Coates, Models of Capitalism: Growth and Stagnation in the Contemporary Era, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2000; Coates, David, ‘Strategic Choices in the Study of New Labour: A Response to Replies from Hay and Wickham-Jones’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 4: 3 (2002), pp.479–86;CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12 For an outline of the ‘transformationist’ approach see Perraton, Jonathan, Goldblatt, David, Held, David and McGrew, Anthony, ‘The Globalisation of Economic Activity’, New Political Economy, 2: 2 (1997), pp.257–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarFor an outline of the ‘competition state’ approach see Cerny, Philip, ‘Paradoxes of the Competition State: The Dynamics of Political Globalisation’, Government and Opposition, 32: 1 (1997), pp. 251–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13 For the new international political economy approach see Cox, Robert, ‘Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory’, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 10: 2, pp. 126–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarFor the regulationist approach see Alain Lipietz, Mirages and Miracles, London, Verso, 1987; Alain Lipietz, ‘Post-Fordism and Democracy’, in Ash Amin (ed.), Post-Fordism: A Reader, Oxford, Blackwell, 1994, pp. 338–57.
14 Hay, Colin and Rosamond, Ben, ‘Globalisation, European Integration and the Discursive Construction of Economic Imperatives’, Journal of European Public Policy, 9: 2 (2002), pp.147–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15 Gill, ‘European Governance’, pp. 4–5.Google Scholar
16 Burnham, Peter, ‘New Labour and the Politics of Depoliticisation’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 3: 2 (2001), pp.127–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17 Gill, ‘European Governance’, p. 8.Google Scholar
18 Andrew Gamble, The Free Economy and the Strong State, London, Macmillan, 1988, p. 44; see also Bonefeld, Wener, ‘European Integration: The Market, the Political and Class’, Capital and Class, 77 (2002), pp.117–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19 Ibid.Google Scholar
20 Gill, ‘European Governance’, p. 5.Google Scholar
21 Van Apeldoorn, ‘Transnational Agency and European Governance’, pp. 157–81.Google Scholar
22 See, for example, Holland, Beyond Maastricht.Google Scholar
23 See Andrew Gamble, ‘The Free Economy and the Strong State’, in R. Miliband and and J. Saville (eds), The Socialist Register 1979, London, Merlin Press, pp. 1–25.Google Scholar
24 F. A. Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1960.Google Scholar
25 M. Rhodes, ‘The European Welfare State: A Future of Competitive Corporatism?’, in M. Rhodes and Y. Meny (eds), The Future of the European Welfare State, Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1998; Gösta Esping-Anderson, The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Cambridge, Polity Press, 1990; Gösta Esping-Anderson (ed.), Welfare States in Transition: National Adaptations in Global Economics, London, Sage, 1996; Cerny, ‘Paradoxes of the Competition State’; G. Garrett, Partisan Politics in a Global Economy, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998.Google Scholar
26 E. P. Thompson, Whigs and Hunters: Origin of the Black Act, London, Penguin, 1990, pp. 258–69.Google Scholar
27 The generally negative attitude of British unions towards the law partly reflects the long-established industrial relations culture in Britain based on legal immunities, alongside free collective bargaining and the pervading assumption of economic class conflict. It also reflects a lack of familiarity with alternative industrial relations cultures, more prevalent in Europe, based on corporatism and the more consensual tradition of social partnership.Google Scholar
28 Josselin, Daphne, ‘Trade Unions for EMU: Sectoral Preferences and Political Opportunities’, West European Politics, 24: 1 (2001), pp.55–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
29 Strange, ‘The British Labour Movement and Economic and Monetary Union in Europe’; Gamble, Andrew and Kelly, Gavin, ‘British Labour and EMU’, West European Politics, 23: 1 (2000), pp.1–25;CrossRefGoogle ScholarJosselin, ‘Trade Unions for EMU’; Strange, ‘British Trade Unions and European Integration in the 1990s.
30 Baker, Gamble and Seawright, ‘The Conservative Party and Monetary Union’.Google Scholar
31 Holland, Beyond Maastricht. See also the case for the Euro presented by Andrew Gamble in Bush, Elliott and Gamble, In or Out? Google Scholar
32 Hirst, Paul and Thompson, Graeme Globalisation in One Country? The Peculiarities of the British’, Economy and Society, 29: 3 (2000), pp.335–56;CrossRefGoogle Scholar
33 Josselin, ‘Trade Unions for EMU’; Bieler, Andreas, ‘Labour, Neo-liberalism and the Conflict over Economic and Monetary Union: A Comparative Analysis of British and German Trade Unions’, German Politics, 12: 2 (2003), pp.24–44;CrossRefGoogle ScholarStrange, ‘British Trade Unions and EU Integration in the 1990s’, pp. 341–9.
34 Trichet, J., ‘The Euro after Two Years’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 39: 1 (2001), pp.1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
35 Clift, Ben, ‘Social Democracy and Globalization: The Cases of France and the UK’, Government and Opposition, 37: 4 (2002), pp.466–500.CrossRefGoogle ScholarAs Clift points out (p. 468), it is fundamentally misleading to define Keynesian policy wholly in terms of deficit financing. By contrast, anti-cyclical policy captures the greater complexity of Keynesian policy and indicates a commitment to sustainable levels of growth and employment that may require budget surpluses (during booms) as well as deficits (during downturns). Indeed, this seems to be a key part of the consensus view emerging from the current process of Stability and Growth Pact reform sparked by the initial decision of the European Commission to pursue punitive measures against Germany and France as euro-zone deficit rule ‘defaulters’.
36 Dyson, Kenneth, ‘Benign or Malevolent Leviathan? Social Democratic Governments in a Neo-Liberal Euro Area’, Political Quarterly, 70: 2 (1999), p. 202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
37 Pochet, P., ‘The New Employment Chapter of the Amsterdam Treaty’, Journal of European Social Policy, 9: 3 (1999), pp.271–8;CrossRefGoogle ScholarDyson, ‘Benign or Malevolent Leviathan’, pp. 201–7.
38 Pochet, ‘The New Employment Chapter’, p. 272.Google Scholar
39 Clift, Ben, ‘The Jospin Way’, Political Quarterly, 72: 2 (2001), pp.170–9;CrossRefGoogle ScholarClift, ‘Social Democracy and Globalization’; Dyson, ‘Benign or Malevolent Leviathan’, pp. 203–4.
40 Pochet, ‘The New Employment Chapter’, pp. 273–4.Google Scholar
41 Gamble, ‘The Case for the Euro’, in Bush, Elliot and Gamble, In or Out?.Google Scholar
42 Ibid., pp. 4–8, 16–19.Google Scholar
43 For a critique of Radice's structuralist approach to globalization and convergence see Strange, Gerard, ‘Globalisation, Regionalism and Labour Interests in the New International Political Economy’, New Political Economy, 7: 3 (2002), pp.344–7;CrossRefGoogle Scholar
44 Hugo Radice, ‘Taking Globalisation Seriously’, in Panitch and Leys, Global Capitalism Versus Democracy, pp. 1–28; Radice, Hugo, ‘The National Economy: A Keynesian Myth?’, Capital and Class, 22 (1984), pp.111–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
45 Radice, ‘Taking Globalisation Seriously’, p. 8.Google Scholar
46 Streeck, Wolfgang, ‘More Uncertainties: West German Unions facing “1992” ’, Industrial Relations, 30: 3 (1991), pp.317–49;Google Scholar
47 Coates, Models of Capitalism, pp. 77–106, 251–9.Google Scholar
48 Coates, ‘Labour Power and International Competitiveness’, p. 136; Coates, Models of Capitalism, pp. 255–7; Coates, ‘Capitalist Models and Social Democracy’, p. 297.Google Scholar
49 Geoffrey Garrett, Partisan Politics in a Global Economy, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998; Wickham-Jones, Mark; ‘New Labour and the Global Economy: Partisan Politics and the Social Democratic Model’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 2: 1 (2000), pp.1–25;CrossRefGoogle ScholarCoates, ‘Labour Power and International Competitiveness’, pp. 133–6; Coates, Models of Capitalism, pp. 86–96 and 104–6; Coates, ‘Capitalist Models and Social Democracy’, pp. 284–307; Coates, ‘Strategic Choices in the Study of New Labour’, pp. 479–86.
50 Greg Albo, ‘Competitive Austerity and the Impasse of Capitalist Employment Policy’, in Panitch and Leys, Global Capitalism Versus Democracy, pp. 144–70.Google Scholar
51 Coates, David quoted in Lloyd, C. and Payne, J., ‘On the Political Economy of Skill’, New Political Economy, 7: 3 (2002), p. 383;Google ScholarCoates, Models of Capitalism, pp. 254–9; Albo, ‘Competitive Austerity’, pp. 148–57.
52 Coates, Models of Capitalism, p. 241.Google Scholar
53 Ibid., p. 254.Google Scholar
54 Ibid., p. 255.Google Scholar
55 Ibid., p. 256.Google Scholar
56 For a critical analysis of this aspect of Radice's analysis see Strange, ‘Beyond “Third Wave” Globalisation Analysis’, p. 46.Google Scholar
57 Immanuel Wallerstein, ‘Ecology and Capitalist Costs of Production: No Exit’, keynote address at PEWS XXI, The Global Environment and the World System, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1997.Google Scholar
58 This confusion is a feature in much of the debate around the alleged impact of globalization on the viability of social democracy. For critical expositions see Callaghan, John, ‘Social Democracy's Big Problem: Economic Globalisation or Hard Times?’, European Political Science, 2: 2 (2003), pp.32–9;CrossRefGoogle Scholar
59 See Matthews, R. C. O., ‘Why Has Britain Had Full Employment since the War’, Economic Journal, 78: 3 (1968), pp.555–69;CrossRefGoogle ScholarCallaghan, ‘Social Democracy's Big Problem’, pp. 34–5.
60 Holland, The European Imperative, pp. 261–3; Will Hutton, The World We’re In, London, Little Brown, 2002.Google Scholar
61 Andreas Boltho, The European Economies: Growth and Crisis, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1988.Google Scholar
62 Clift, ‘Social Democracy and Globalization’, p. 467.Google Scholar
63 Leborgne, Daniele and Lipietz, Alain, ‘How to Avoid a Two-Tier Europe’, Labour and Society, 15: 2 (1990), pp.177–99;Google ScholarHutton, The World We’re In; Hay, Colin, ‘Globalisation, EU-isation and the Space for Social Democratic Alternatives: Pessimism of the Intellect: A Reply to Coates’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 4: 3 (2002), pp. 452–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
64 Robert O’Brien, ‘Labour and IPE: Rediscovering Human Agency’, in R. Palen (ed.), Global Political Economy: Contemporary Theories, London, Routledge, 2000, pp. 89–99.Google Scholar
65 Wallerstein, ‘Ecology and Capitalist Costs of Production’, pp. 1–11.Google Scholar
66 Ibid., p. 4.Google Scholar
67 As Hobson and Ramesh have noted, it is ‘possible for “structuralists” to conceive globalisation in agent-centric terms, as when they focus on the agency of multinational corporations (MNCs) or other non-state actors’. J. Hobson and M. Ramesh, ‘Globalisation Makes of States What States Make of It: Between Agency and Structure in the State/Globalisation Debate’, New Political Economy, 7: 1, pp. 5–22.Google Scholar
68 Radice, ‘Taking Globalisation Seriously’, p. 22.Google Scholar
69 Bieler, Andreas and Morton, Adam, ‘Globalisation, the State and Class Struggle: A “Critical Economy” Engagement with Open Marxism’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 5: 4 (2003), pp.467–99;CrossRefGoogle Scholarsee also Jessop, Bob, ‘Regulation Theory, Post-Fordism and the State: More than a Response to Bonfeld’, Capital and Class, 34, (1988), p. 147Google Scholar.
70 John Holloway, quoted by Bieler and Morton, ‘Globalisation, the State and Class Struggle’, p. 474.Google Scholar
71 Bieler and Morton, ‘Globalisation, the State and Class Struggle’, p. 478.Google Scholar
- 16
- Cited by