1.4.3 Summary EMU has been accompanied by fiscal rules embodied in the SGP. An issue raised by this is the compatibility of a common single monetary policy target designed to defeat inflation with different fiscal policies ostensibly at the discretion of the individual govern ments. When France and Germany contravened the SGP fiscal rule, it was effectively suspended and broke down. This was a case of the Council of Ministers asserting c
1.4.2 Struggles over the SGP The real political struggles emerged at the end of 2003 when France and Germany were called to account by the Commission for overtly breaking the 3 per cent deficit rule. The background to this dispute can be seen in the data presented in Table 3. Clearly, although the EU-15 as a whole were ke
1.3 The arrival of the Euro and the European Central Bank The ECB (founded in 1998) is a formally independent body charged with defining and implementing monetary policy for the EU. It holds the reserves of the national banks of those participating in the Euro-zone, and also has responsibility for the Euro exchange rate (see Section 1.5). This independence
1.2.2 Summary The EU-15/25 is a large and prosperous player on the world economic stage. It represents a continental-sized economy, able to compete with the USA and Japan (and China and India, somewhere down the line). The new EU members who joined in 2004, and those lining up to join later, are at a different level of development to the EU-15. This will pose considerable challenges for those managing and governing the n
1.1 Managing the European economy after the introduction of the Euro In many ways the introduction of the Euro both begged the question of an integrated financial system for Europe (or the Euro-zone in the first instance) and was stimulated by its own success. This success can be measured in terms of a relatively low-inflation economy and, after a shaky start, the Euro's emergence as an international currency of some repute. Thus one of the first issues to deal with in this unit is the background to the institutional changes that Economic and Monetary Union (E
Learning outcomes After studying this unit you will: appreciate the importance of the Euro-zone economy as a player in the international economic system; recognise the importance and role played by the European Central Bank in the conduct of Euro-zone monetary policy; understand the relationship between monetary policy and fiscal policy in the management of the European economy; reflect on the consequences of Euro-zone enlargement for the conduct econo
Introduction This unit focuses on key developments in the economy of the European Union (EU) since the advent of the Euro in 1999. Further, it concentrates on the challenges this has posed for economic policy formation and the governance of the EU's expanding economy. One of the central features of the post-Maastricht governance environment is the attempt to create a ‘single market in services’ for Europe. If the 1990s was the decade of the ‘single market programme’ (SMP) which concentrated on the
Acknowledgements The content acknowledged below is Proprietary (see terms and conditions) and is used under licence. Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this unit: Figure 4 Institute of British Geographers; Tube
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References 4.3 Summary If social researchers are to be effective in understanding people, they need to be detached from common sense (the perspective of the person on the street). However, they should not be so detached that they fall into the trap of imposing their own categories upon the object without regard for the experience of those involved (the perspective of the expert). The standpoint of the ‘stranger’ provides a way of mediating between the detached position of the scientist and the personal ex 4.2 The perspective of the stranger One way in which it is possible to build links between everyday experience and social scientific research is to adopt the approach recommended by the philosopher and sociologist Alfred Schütz (1899–1959). As a refugee from Austria in the late 1930s, he found himself transported to America and encountered considerable difficulties in reorienting himself to new conditions and a new culture. This personal experience of not having familiar bearings, and of encountering the impact of cultural d 3.3 Summary Social scientific inquiry, like all human practices, operates through a set of taken-for-granted assumptions and draws upon the same skills we use in everyday life. It is difficult to separate the treatment of facts in social science from deeply embedded cultural values. Social scientific knowledge is situated in two ways: historically in terms of the shared values and guidelines transmitted from previous studies in the social sciences, and socially within a specific cultu 3.2 What does it mean for knowledge to be situated? Scientific knowledge has been frequently portrayed as universally true. If this were the case then there would be no fundamental disagreements, for what counts as true would never change. However, what has been considered scientific in the past is now often seen as archaic or simply odd. The opposite approach would be to say that truth is relative – no one view is superior to any other. Both of these positions are simplistic. Contemporary defenders of science would argue that science is imp 3.1 Theorising situations This unit explores the processes through which we comprehend the world around us. When it comes to understanding and explaining the way that social life operates, social scientists draw from a conceptual tool kit, just as we possess a conceptual tool kit for watching a movie or as a spectator at any sports event. There are times when all human beings feel that something appears to be plausible or appears to be false and we are quite aware that others would disagree with our own point of view. 2.5 Summary In a rapidly changing world, the objects of analysis with which the social sciences are familiar (such as the state and the national economy) no longer seem to operate in the same way and are possibly becoming redundant. New problems and issues are emerging which demand innovation and flexibility. The jargon of the disciplines in the social sciences can become a barrier to understanding. As a starting-point, you should simply treat terms as labels for sets of assumptions and ideas and c 2.3 The challenge of terminology Probably the biggest challenge that you will encounter is acquiring a command of the terms and concepts of this field of knowledge – even the words ‘philosophy’ and ‘science’ can seem off-putting. In your reading around this unit you will come into contact with a wide range of ‘-isms’, ‘-sophies’ and ‘-ologies’, some of which you may have encountered in previous studies. Actually, these terms are best seen as shorthand for groups of assumptions and ideas about the way th 2.2 The challenge of methods The methodological challenges facing the social sciences are best outlined in the form of a series of questions about how we should engage in research and what kind of research attitude is appropriate. Should social scientists look to the assumptions and methods developed in the natural sciences or develop their own assumptions and methods? Do the objects which we study in the social sciences, such as the self, society, the economy, i 2.1 The challenge of change We are living in a very complex and rapidly changing world. Social science does not exist in a vacuum: by its very nature, social scientific study directly considers those things in life which are close to our concerns as human beings – how we produce things, communicate with one another, govern ourselves, understand our varied environments, and how to solve the problems we face in the organisation of social relations and processes. The social sciences offer a way of dealing with all of the Learning outcomes On completion of this unit you should be able to: describe why and how we study social phenomena; outline how theory can help us to deal with complex evidence; give examples of the most appropriate theory; identify which concepts are most useful for the task; explain how hypotheses are generated; summarise what makes our evidence and arguments more plausible. Introduction In a complex and rapidly changing world, social scientific study examines how we produce things, communicate, govern ourselves, understand our environments, and how to solve the problems we face in the organisation of social relations and processes. This unit provides a basic overview of how social science contains deeply embedded cultural assumptions and outlines the important relationship between philosophical thinking and practical research methods in social sciences. This material
