There’s no hope : The global economic crisis and the politics of resistance in Southern Europe1

Ugo Rossi

doi:10.4000/belgeo.7071

Abstract

Since 2010 Southern Europe has become the epicentre of the second phase of the global economic crisis that began two years earlier as a consequence of the bursting of the mortgage and financial bubble in the United States. In critical commentaries, this crisis has been understood as a crisis of neoliberalism as a mode of economic-political regulation. In the first part, this paper analyses the transition to a neoliberal mode of economic governance in Italy, understood in terms of “concerted neoliberalism”, particularly looking at its implications for the North-South divide. In the second part, the paper looks at the effects of the global crisis in the Sardinia region, through the lens of the politics of resistance that has taken shape in this context. The paper concludes by reflecting on the limits to a regionalised politics of resistance, calling for an imaginative politics of renaissance at a cross-Southern European scale.

Highlights

North-central Europe has suddenly developed an acute case of amnesia, a few years ago the financial press was praising Spain, Portugal and even Greece for their competence in trimming public spending and boosting growth rates
In the same year Italy was hit by what has been known for many years as the “big crisis” in this country, at least until the global economic crisis of the late 2000s
40 The case of Cagliari and the Sardinia region provides empirical evidence of the contradictions arising from the neoliberalisation of peripheral Southern European economies, which have led to the eruption of social discontent as a reaction to the apparent lack of credible economic-political alternatives

Summary

Ugo Rossi

ISSN: 2294-9135 Publisher: National Committee of Geography of Belgium, Société Royale Belge de Géographie. Electronic reference Ugo Rossi, « There’s no hope : The global economic crisis and the politics of resistance in Southern Europe », Belgeo [Online], 1-2 | 2012, Online since 04 December 2012, connection on 01 May 2019. This text was automatically generated on 1 May 2019. Belgeo est mis à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. There’s no hope : The global economic crisis and the politics of resistance i. There’s no hope : The global economic crisis and the politics of resistance in Southern Europe

Introduction

Neoliberalism at the margins of Europe

The supposed end of the Southern Question

Conclusion