The Core-Periphery Divide in the European Union

Rudy Weissenbacher is a researcher at the Institute for International Economics and Development, Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Vienna), Austria.

Was disintegration of the European Union foretold? With the benefit of hindsight, the critical analysis of the European integration process by researchers from the 'European Dependency School' is most timely.  The current framework of the European Union seems to be haunted by issues that had been very familiar to the researchers of the 'European Dependency School', such as a lack of a common and balanced industrial policy. How do the situations compare? What lessons can be learnt for alternative development policies in contemporary Europe?

Weissenbacher tackles these issues, which are of relevanceto all interested in political economy, political science, development studies and regional development.

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Studying Dependencies: A Conceptual Framework from the Periphery.- Chapter 3. Development Studies and the Dependency Approach in European Research Networks of the 1970s and 1980s.- Chapter 4. Old Paradigms and New Crises.- Chapter 5. Core and Periphery from Cold War to Monetary Integration.- Chapter 6. Alternative Strategies in the 'European Dependency School'.- Chapter 7. Paradigm Lost? 'Endogenous Development' Replaces 'Selective Self-Reliance'.- Chapter 8. Persistent Core-Periphery Divide in the EU.- Chapter 9. Capitalism and Beyond?