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The Transnational Constitution of Europe's Social Market Economies: A Question of Constitutional Imbalances?
Author(s) -
Kjaer Poul F.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
jcms: journal of common market studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.54
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1468-5965
pISSN - 0021-9886
DOI - 10.1111/jcms.12811
Subject(s) - constitution , state (computer science) , politics , autonomy , political economy , economics , power (physics) , political science , economy , economic system , market economy , law , physics , algorithm , quantum mechanics , computer science
Throughout its history the European integration process has not undermined but rather strengthened the autonomy of member states vis‐à‐vis wider societal interests in relation to political economy, labour markets and social provisions. Both the ‘golden age nation state’ of the 1960s as well as the considerable transformations of member state political economies over the past decades, and especially after the euro‐crisis, was to a considerable degree orchestrated through transnational, most notably European, arrangements. In both cases the primary objective has been to strengthen state capacities of public power and law against the encroachment of private interests into the state. In spite of this continuity, considerable changes can be observed in the substantial economic policies advanced due to the switch from a Keynesian to a monetarist economic paradigm. It is suggested that the debate on constitutional imbalances between the EU's economic and social constitutions should be seen in this light.