Planning for a Post-Neoliberal Age? The Political Economy of EU Industrial Policy
IMPRS Colloquium
- Datum: 09.05.2022
- Uhrzeit: 15:00
- Vortragender: Luuk Schmitz
- Doctoral Researcher, visiting from EUI
In popular narratives, market-enhancing regulation has always
shaped state–market relations. The last decade, however, shows several
aberrations that question the endurance of this old paradigm. Recently, we have
seen a green new deal to transform industries into zero-emission sectors, a
digital policy to curtail big tech power in pursuit of digital sovereignty, a
trade policy moving away from the mantra of free trade toward strategic
autonomy, and a revamped competition and state aid framework to foster European
champions. These developments raise a simple question: Why do we see statist
policies emerging in a polity that is made up of anti-statist institutions? I
argue that the exogenous shock of a changed geopolitical environment opens up
space to challenge established wisdoms and recalibrates the balance of power
that orients EU integration. I examine the political economy of industrial
policy both at EU and member state levels, and substantiate the argument
through a mix of case studies, interviews, discourse network analysis, and
document analysis.