Abstract
This piece of research concerns the EU’s institutional and policy output in the wake ofthe debt crisis. In the aftermath of the eurozone debt crisis starting in 2010, a myriad of new European institutional forms were constructed, the most unique of which is the so-called troika: a joint formation of the IMF, the European Commission, and the European Central Bank. This institutional grouping was responsible for coordinating the bailouts and accompanying policy conditionalities placed on the European countries in debt. How can the policy output emergent from the negotiations between nation states and this novel institutional formation be explained?
This question was approached through a comparative case study of Ireland and Greece, the two countries exemplifying the biggest successes and failures of the troika’s bailout process, respectively. The most significant element constituting each case are qualitative interviews conducted with senior-level participants in the bailout process from each country, including chief negotiators, ministerial advisors, and technical staff. The interviewees were all directly involved with the troika and the negotiations, and provided invaluable insight into the interactions between the troika and the national level within the policy process.
Utilising a combination of state-centric theories of European integration, and state-centric explanations for IMF-EU cooperation as a theoretical lens, the results of this comparative case study highlight the manner in which the IMF was used by states within the context of intergovernmental bargaining. The troika was not a novel supranational actor but a novel incarnation of existing intergovernmental dynamics, wherein the IMF was utilised at the bargaining table within and across the levels of the policy making process.
This piece of work hopes to contribute original evidence for an expansion of existing state-centric theories to encompass interactions between states and international organisations and shed light on the dynamics guiding the troika, and in doing so explain the institutional dynamics underlying the current Ordoliberalisation of Europe.
Date of Award | 12 May 2022 |
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Original language | English |
Awarding Institution |
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Supervisor | Kevin J Doogan (Supervisor) & Noemi Lendvai-Bainton (Supervisor) |
Keywords
- European Union (EU)
- ordoliberalism
- european integration
- theories of integration
- state centricism
- debt crisis
- troika