On 17 November 2011 Marga Peeters and Erik Bähre, NIAS Fellows 2010/11, will hold a seminar in which they will talk about the current crisis in the European Union.
Although the European sovereign debt and banking crisis is hampering economic growth, this unprecedented storm catalyses highly needed reforms that can constitute new building blocks in the formation of the European Monetary and Political Union. European governance versus sovereignty, morality and legitimacy of free market principles, as well as concerns about solidarity, social hierarchy, and religious insecurities play a main role.
This seminar approaches the issues at stake from two very distinct angles, being the economic anthropology and macro policy view. How do they examine financial crises and how do they formulate concerns and future scenarios? In a nutshell, we will address the resemblance with past financial crises, the recent borrowing hype, the anthropologists view on finance, EU governance as to the fiscal and monetary union, the wishes of the Occupiers, basic versus casino banking as well as bank ring-fencing, and the role of cultural differences in EU-decision making.
