The Greco-German Affair in the Euro Crisis: Mutual Recognition Lost? (Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics)

This book focuses on one of the most highly charged relationships of the Euro crisis, that between Greece and Germany, from 2009 to 2015. It explores the many ways in which Greeks and Germans represented and often insulted one another in the media, how their self-understanding shifted in the process, and how this in turn affected their respective appraisal of the EU and that which divides us or keeps us together as Europeans. These stories illustrate the book's broader argument about mutual recognition, an idea and norm at the very heart of the European project. The book is constructed around a normative pivot. On one hand, the authors suggest that the tumultuous affair between the two peoples can be read as "mutual recognition lost" through a thousand cuts. On the other, they argue that the relationship has only bent rather than broken down, opening the potential for a renewed promise of mutual recognition and an ethos of "fair play" that may even re-source the EU as a whole. The book's engaging story and original argument may appeal not only to experts of European politics and democracy, but also to interested or emotionally invested citizens, of whatever nationality.-- Source other than the Library of Congress Preface 7 Acknowledgements 8 Contents 9 Abbreviations 12 List of Images 14 Chapter 1 The Setting: The Greco-German Affair on the Euro Stage 15 Abstract 15 1.1 The Foundation of European Demoicracy 16 1.2 The Greco-German Affair and the Battlefield of Stories 18 1.3 Mutual Recognition and Its Denial 21 1.4 Rebuilding Trust 23 Chapter 2 The Players: Greeks vs Germans 32 Abstract 32 2.1 Of Greek Squanderers and German Misers 34 The Good Life 34 Conflicted Cheapskates 37 Inequalities and Suffering 38 The Age of the Lobster Pasta 39 Blame Games 41 Greece, Relentless Mirror 43 2.2 Swindlers vs. Hearts of Steel: Moralities of Rule of Law, Public Spirit, and Solidarity 44 Greek Diseases 45 Only Greeks? 46 A Liar Will not Be Believed 48 The Two Greeces 49 Playing by the Rules 51 Solidarity 52 2.3 Greece Mirror of German Demons 55 Bankruptcy Greeks 56 Traumas Resonating 57 2.4 Your History, My History 59 Heir of Antiquity vs Err of Antiquity, and the War of Clichés 60 German Guilt, German Debt, German Responsibility 64 Lost in Translation 68 Mirror, Mirror on the Wall 69 Greek Historical Memory Revised 73 2.5 Power and Resistance 74 German Despots and Their Greek Collaborators 75 The Power of the Weak 76 The Reluctant Hegemon 79 With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility 81 Chapter 3 The Name of the Game: Shaping Europe Through Self and Other 96 Abstract 96 3.1 A Union of Prosperity? 97 From Promise to Threat 97 Bottomless Pit 100 United in Fear? 102 Cui Bono? 104 3.2 Europe Re-Nationalised? 106 Germanisation, or Nationalisation? 107 Community of Fate and Responsibility 110 Mortal Europe, More Europe, and a Different Europe 112 European Domestic Politics 115 3.3 Embodiment of Progress, Competent Governance and Modernisation? 117 Saviours Without a Plan 117 Markets as the Lords of Politics 120 Europe as Moderniser 122 Chapter 4 The Ethos of the Game: Recovering the Promise of Mutual Recognition 134 Abstract 134 4.1 Mutual Recognition Starts with Subverting Stereotypes 136 Stereotypes Snowballing 136 Stereotypes Dislodged 138 Stereotypes Subverted 140 4.2 Mutual Recognition as Engagement 141 Irony and Identity Play 141 Interweaving Webs of Stories 142 The European Arena for Other-Regardingness 143 4.3 Mutual Recognition Recovered 145 Gaming Conflict 146 Binding Trust 147 Love, Actually 148 Timeline of key events September 2009–September 2015 153 Academic Works Cited 156 Index 160 Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii The Setting: The Greco-German Affair on the Euro Stage (Claudia Sternberg, Kira Gartzou-Katsouyanni, Kalypso Nicolaïdis)....Pages 1-17 The Players: Greeks vs Germans (Claudia Sternberg, Kira Gartzou-Katsouyanni, Kalypso Nicolaïdis)....Pages 19-82 The Name of the Game: Shaping Europe Through Self and Other (Claudia Sternberg, Kira Gartzou-Katsouyanni, Kalypso Nicolaïdis)....Pages 83-120 The Ethos of the Game: Recovering the Promise of Mutual Recognition (Claudia Sternberg, Kira Gartzou-Katsouyanni, Kalypso Nicolaïdis)....Pages 121-139 Back Matter ....Pages 141-151 This text focuses on one of the most highly charged relationships of the Euro crisis, that between Greece and Germany, from 2009 to 2015. It explores the many ways in which Greeks and Germans represented and often insulted one another in the media, how their self-understanding shifted in the process, and how this in turn affected their respective appraisal of the EU and that which divides us or keeps us together as Europeans Claudia Sternberg, Kira Gartzou-katsouyanni, Kalypso Nicolaïdis. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.