Abstract
In an article recently published in this journal, Steven Klein revised Karl Polanyi's conceptualization of the relation between economy and society, and adapted it to the post-crisis European context. His reconstruction put emphasis on the re-democratization potential of trade unions and central banks against the pernicious effects of the commodification of labor and money on the European level. While Klein’s approach is without doubt very insightful and original, we think that some of his claims either deserve discussion or require closer elaboration. This concerns the conceptual approach of setting Polanyi against Habermas as well as the critique of the role of law in the integration process. As to the latter, we think that further contextualization is due to appreciate changing historical contexts and layers of European integration. With the objective in mind to enrich Klein’s analysis, we first propose a way to reconcile, against what Klein suggests, Polanyian and Habermasian understandings of law and money. This theoretical background will help us, second, to explore in detail the differences between market and monetary integration, and in particular the role that law plays in each of these politico-economic constellations. Based on this we will, third and final, explain how the interaction of public and private law in the context of post-crisis European integration further promotes the process of commodification, and how the configuration of law in market and monetary integration currently prevents trade unions and central banks from exerting the re-democratizing potential that Klein’s assigns to them.
Originalsprache | Englisch |
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Seiten (von - bis) | 1 - 12 |
Fachzeitschrift | Global Perspectives |
Jahrgang | 2 |
Ausgabenummer | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publikationsstatus | Veröffentlicht - 2021 |
Österreichische Systematik der Wissenschaftszweige (ÖFOS)
- 506004 Europäische Integration
- 504001 Allgemeine Soziologie
- 504030 Wirtschaftssoziologie
- 504024 Rechtssoziologie