FCHS (DCPC) - Artigos em Revistas Científicas Internacionais sem Arbitragem Científica
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- Economic and Monetary Union: insights into the theoretical conundrum of European IntegrationPublication . Vila Maior, Paulo; noAs part of an ongoing research, this paper focus on European monetary integration depicting to what extent existing theories and theoretical approaches fit with the ontology and subsequent developments of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). A special emphasis goes to the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) as a crucial ingredient of European monetary integration, particularly for the political turmoil it produced in recent years. On a previous conference (UACES Annual Conference 2007: Exchanging Ideas on Europe: Common Values and External Policies, Portsmouth, UK, 3-5 September 2007), EMU and the SGP were assessed through the lens of neofunctionalism, liberal intergovernmentalism, supranational governance, new institutionalism and the fusion thesis. This paper turns to the federal theory and the rational choice theory. Some argue that the power of ideas (the monetarist school) and national governments’ adjustment to a new international setting provide the broad explanation of the move towards EMU. Others claim that the project of European monetary integration was independent from such exogenous inputs, understanding the step towards EMU as part of the dynamism encapsulated by European integration. I test these contrasting perceptions against the explanatory power of federal theory and rational choice. The analysis of the SGP (in both the original version and after the November 2005 reform) follows the same methodology. The rationale behind the paper is twofold. On the one hand, whether EMU and the SGP fit into one of the theories under examination, and whether the corresponding mapping is telling of theoretical prevalence or dissemination. On the other hand, whether the SGP (and subsequent reform) converges or diverges with EMU’s theoretical matrix.
- The Stability and Growth Pact: enforceable, flexible or dead?Publication . Vila Maior, Paulo; noThe paper reflects the nature of the Stability and Growth Pact capturing its innovative essence as a ‘more-than-federal’ device, following an alternative classification I propose. This classification is based on a comparative method using other countries as case studies, seeking their main characteristics when the rules of fiscal discipline states have to comply with are concerned. Then the attention shifts to a highly sensitive question – whether enforceability of the Stability and Growth Pact is the expected outcome. This is an important discussion since recent debates on the desirability to make the pact more flexibility fuelled intense controversy among scholars, member states and supranational institutions. Also recent events showing how key member states are unable to respect the rules of the pact feed further doubts about its strict implementation. Using several scholars’ judgment that the pact’s main shortcoming is its rigidity, the question is to know whether the pact is geared towards enforceability without any variation that undermines its original meaning. The methodology uses three types of sources. On the one hand, a literature review emphasising the main theoretical conclusions that emerge on this issue. On the other hand the results of interviews carried over at the Commission, the European Central Bank and a sample of nine member states at the level of Finance and Foreign Affairs ministries. Some divergence is found between the solutions devised by academics and the answers given by practitioners. This gap is heightened by the third methodological element: an examination of national governments’ recent performance in terms of fiscal discipline, as well as the reaction of the Commission. This is a crucial task for concluding about the likely fate of the Stability and Growth Pact.