Plugging the capability-expectations gap: towards effective,comprehensive and conflict-sensitive EU crisis response?

Since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, the European Union (EU) has spent considerable time and energy on defining and refining its comprehensive approach to external conflicts. The knock-on effects of new and protracted crises, from the war in Ukraine to the multi-faceted armed conflicts in the Sahel and the wider Middle East, have made the improvement of external crisis-response capacities a top priority. But has the EU managed to plug the capability–expectations gap, and develop an effective, comprehensive and conflict sensitive crisis-response capability? Drawing on institutional theory and an approach developed by March and Olsen, this article analyses whether the EU has the administrative capacities needed in order to be an effective actor in this area and implement a policy in line with the established goals and objectives identified in its comprehensive approach.     

欧洲主权债务危机的反思及其对东亚货币合作的启示

始于希腊波及欧洲多国的欧洲主权债务危机,不仅威胁欧元区的经济复苏,使欧元区的内在弊端暴露无遗,而且还引发人们对欧洲一体化进程和最优货币区理论的反思,为其他地区经济货币合作特别是东亚货币合作提供诸多启示。     

Sovereign Debt Crisis in Euroland: Root Causes and Implications for European Integration

This article considers the likely impact of the global crisis on the prospects for the European project. First, it considers the nature of the current crisis. It argues that it is comparable, in terms of its deep structural character, to the one in the 1930s. The crisis manifested itself first in the financial sector, but was caused by underlying problems of overaccumulation, which explains the succession of speculative booms and busts from the 1980s onward. The article then analyses how the financial crisis transmuted into the current sovereign debt crisis in Europe. It identifies a number of interdependent factors responsible for this: the bailouts of banks following the credit crisis; the stimulus programmes necessitated by the danger of a deep economic recession; the structural problems of the European Monetary Union leading to the accumulation of debt in the peripheral members; and finally the catalytic action of speculation in the financial markets. Finally, the article discusses responses to the debt crisis, outlining the contours of two alternatives (muddling through and Europeanisation), their implications, and some of the conditions for success. The conclusion is rather pessimistic: chances that an effective, timely and sustainable solution will be realised do not seem high.     

国际金融危机下东盟四国的银行业研究

2007年爆发的美国次贷危机早已转变为席卷全球的国际金融危机。由于东盟四国的银行业正处在改革与调整时期,其银行业发展轨迹明显不同于其他国家和地区。东盟四国银行业系统的基本面良好,甚至在危机期间还逆势而行,主要得益于东盟四国在1997年东亚金融危机爆发之后所采取的一系列有效的改革措施及此次金融危机东盟四国政府所采取的积极应对举措。