Numerous governments across Europe have embarked on strict austerity programs. Europe is also sliding into a deep recession, with some countries already essentially in deep depression. Are the two phenomena related? Is the austerity exacerbating the economic downturn? Yes and no, and the yes should be no surprise. For context, …
Last weekend, the people of France took a sharp turn to the left, and the rest of Europe may be on the brink of rebuking its recent tack toward fiscal responsibility. With Sunday’s election of French Socialist leader Francois Hollande, France has leapt backward toward the policies that have helped …
Voters in five European countries—France, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Serbia—go to the polls on May 6. Election outcomes, particularly in France and Greece, are likely to ratchet up uncertainty about the future of the European Union. In a somber, warning tone, a group of concerned French economists penned a public …
The European euro/debt/growth/banking/identity crisis is entering its third year. With so many summits, toasts, tense conference calls, and self-congratulatory pronouncements of ultimate success by Europe’s brightest lights, why won’t the crisis just go away? Instead, it is ramping up as interest rates on Spanish and Italian debt rise to critical …
Many Americans will not recognize the name Abu Qatada. Qatada is a radical Muslim cleric currently behind bars in the United Kingdom waiting deportation to Jordan for terrorism-related charges. It has been widely reported that he is also wanted by authorities in Belgium, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, and Algeria and …
American readers looking for a sweeping and superbly written study of the British Conservative Party should look no further than Robin Harris’s The Conservatives: A History, just published by Bantam Press. Its more than 600 pages cover every Conservative prime minister from Robert Peel to David Cameron, with in-depth and …
Spain will have a new government in time for Christmas, and unlike Greece and Italy, Madrid’s government will be a democratically elected one. Mariano Rajoy’s center-right Partido Popular secured an absolute majority in yesterday’s elections and, on December 22, will take 186 out of 350 seats in the lower house …
