The Religious Foundations of the European Crisis

Abstract

There has been much talk about ordoliberalism recently. Scholars and the press identify it as the dominant economic instruction sheet for Germany's European crisis politics. However, by analyzing ordoliberalism only as an economic theory, the debate downplays that ordoliberalism is also an ethical theory, with strong roots in Protestant social thought. It is this rooting in Protestant social thought that makes Ordoliberalism incompatible with the socioeconomic ethics of most of the European crisis countries, whose ethics originate in Catholic and Orthodox social thought. This divergence is the source of a crisis of understanding between European nations and hinders a collective response to the Euro crisis.

United in diversity? The convergence of cultural values among EU member states and candidates

“…With regard to the EU's democratic legitimation crisis resulting from the lack of a European demos (Weiler 1995), as well as the challenges inherent in cultural value differences over the course of integration (e.g., Gerhards 2007, Guiso et al 2016, Hien 2017, this study provides an optimistic account of recent cultural processes concerning EU integration. The European demos is not provided per se but is created through integrational efforts in other spheres and the intensified interactions between European public actors and common citizens.…”

“…To successfully respond to these problems and achieve further integration, the congruence of cultural values may be essential (Guiso et al 2016). Among current EU member states, value differences rooted in each of Europe's three main religious traditions -Protestantism, Catholicism and Orthodoxy -are considered to be the roots of misunderstandings impeding collective action needed to address the Euro crisis (Hien 2017). A key debate in recent decades has been fuelled by the so-called 'no-demos thesis' (Weiler 1995), which concerns the question of whether transnational political integration requires common cultural values and identities.…”

Religion, European Elections and EU Politics. A Resilient Second-Order Factor for a Second-Order Polity?

“…It may be substantial, when currency stability and debt reduction is framed as a part of social justice under God and as a moral duty towards future generation (Fontaine 2010: 91). The Greek crisis has been frequently interpreted along contradictory theological lines:as a punishment from God for the turpitudes of mismanagement, thus calling for repentance (Kessareas 2018); as a moral obligation to rebel against austerity that damaged human dignity by cutting in welfare and social aids; as a clash of cultures between a German ordo-liberalism rooted in Protestant ethics and an Orthodox failing to build a functional modern state and giving precedence to family and social solidarities world (Hien 2017). Looking at the broader picture, the welfare reforms advocated by the European Commission on behalf of competitiveness and making the individual accountable for his/her success are perceived as inspired by a Protestant thought that contrasts with the traditional non-conditional assistance of Catholic and Orthodox societies ( Molokotos-Liederman, Bäckström and Davie 2017;Bäckström and Davie 2010, 189-190;Van Kersbergen and Manow 2009, 2-4).…”

Dead man walking? Current European interest in the ordoliberal tradition

“…111 institutions strengthening ethically correct behaviour. 130 Schäuble's calls for self-reliance, discipline, austerity, and modesty, which he seeks to stimulate by making moral appeals and institutional systems of incentives, are to be found not only in first-generation ordoliberalism, but also in the individual lay ethos of ascetic and pietistic Protestantism. Since humans are simultaneously sinful and justified, institutions had to safeguard that their behaviour is just.…”