Mugnai, Iacopo (2022) The ECB and the technocratic politics of ideas : embedding a resilient EMU from the top-down? PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

By focusing on the economic policy thinking of the European Central Bank (ECB) and its internal politics of ideas, this research seeks to enhance scholarly understanding of ideational change inside international organisations (IOs). To do so, it asks the following research questions: (1) how has ECB’s economic policy thinking evolved since the outbreak of the euro crisis? and (2) what drives change in ECB’s ideas on the best way to deepen EMU in its fiscal and economic realms? To answer these questions, fiscal policy, structural reforms and convergence towards resilient economic structures are used as case studies.

Although a paradigm shift has not occurred in ECB’s economic policy thinking, the thesis argues that the ECB adjusted its economic ideas and discourse by following the logic of bricolage and layering, thereby leading to the juxtaposition of ideas coming from different paradigmatic homes. In particular, this study finds that the interplay between changes in the ECB’s leadership and internal policy discussions promoted by ideational entrepreneurs played a pivotal role in enabling new policy ideas to emerge.

By looking at the technocratic politics of economic ideas occurring within the ECB, this thesis also contributes to the IPE of EMU deepening. It shares the view that ‘IOs are powerful’ because ‘they use their authority to orient action and create social reality’ (Barnett and Finnemore 2004, 7). Consequently, the construction of cognitive authority within IOs can be understood as an ongoing political struggle over the ideas underpinning the everyday practice of global governance. Through its engagement into the supranational politics of austerity and their shifting construction of economic rectitude, the ECB therefore crafted a new constructivist strategy (Best 2010) seeking to embed a resilient EMU from the top-down.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HG Finance
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	European Central Bank, Economic and Monetary Union, Economic policy, Monetary policy -- European Union countries
Official Date:	April 2022
Dates:	Date Event April 2022 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Politics and International Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Clift, Ben ; Broome, André
Sponsors:	University of Warwick. Department of Politics and International Studies ; Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain)
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	xi, 273 leaves
Language:	eng

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