Italy’s Decline and the Crisis of European Integration: Political Economy, Political Theology, and the Problem of Sovereignty

This book offers a historically grounded and theoretically ambitious interpretation of Italy’s long-term economic, social and political decline within the framework of European integration.Combining political economy, the history of economic thought, and political and philosophical theory, the book argues that the euro and the institutional architecture of the EU have acted as structural constraints on Italy’s development, eroding its productive base, limiting democratic sovereignty, and amplifying inequality.Amidst the current economic and geopolitical crisis facing the Continent, moreover, this book argues that the roots of today’s European crisis lie in the very process of integration launched with the Maastricht Treaty.While it initially harmed certain countries-those on the periphery relative to the core-it is now extending its effects to other nations as well, making a rethinking of the approach to common policies increasingly necessary.Thus, the book challenges the mainstream na