Greetings. But you've made the big mistake that book reviewers often make, of insisting the author write a different book. Sen isn't writing to correct the Greek economic issue; rather he's arguing that the process by which the European Union and the European Central Bank arrives at its policies undermines the democratic process in serious and severe ways. It's much less about economics and far more about the repression of democracy.
Just to make this clear, I'm quoting from the conclusion of the piece. It's a longish quote but is the point of Sen's essay. Who is far more a political economist than Krugman.
I happen also to agree with the portion of the argument which says the way in which these decisions were reached increases the probability of serious popular reaction, at least as bad as that in Greece if not worse. Sen is working from the argument that we are in the early stages of all this. And the latter stages will be a crisis of governing, created by the way the elites handled the financial crisis.
Perhaps the most troubling aspect of Europe’s current malaise is the replacement of democratic commitments by financial dictates — from leaders of the European Union and the European Central Bank, and indirectly from credit-rating agencies, whose judgments have been notoriously unsound. Participatory public discussion — the “government by discussion” expounded by democratic theorists like John Stuart Mill and Walter Bagehot — could have identified appropriate reforms over a reasonable span of time, without threatening the foundations of Europe’s system of social justice. In contrast, drastic cuts in public services with very little general discussion of their necessity, efficacy or balance have been revolting to a large section of the European population and have played into the hands of extremists on both ends of the political spectrum.
Europe cannot revive itself without addressing two areas of political legitimacy. First, Europe cannot hand itself over to the unilateral views — or good intentions — of experts without public reasoning and informed consent of its citizens. Given the transparent disdain for the public, it is no surprise that in election after election the public has shown its dissatisfaction by voting out incumbents.
Second, both democracy and the chance of creating good policy are undermined when ineffective and blatantly unjust policies are dictated by leaders. The obvious failure of the austerity mandates imposed so far has undermined not only public participation — a value in itself — but also the possibility of arriving at a sensible, and sensibly timed, solution. This is a surely a far cry from the “united democratic Europe” that the pioneers of European unity sought. So you might wish to write your essay on the Greek "cultural tradition" (though that's a bit of hyperbole, since that tradition is much more than cheating on tax revenues) and on their psychology (I've never understood the whole venture of national psychologies).
But that's not Sen's essay. Different topics for different folk. |
