New Book by Tolga Bölükbaşı
“Euro-Austerity and Welfare States,” a new book by Asst. Prof. H. Tolga Bölükbaşı of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, provides comparative insights regarding this hot-button policy issue. The book, published by the University of Toronto Press, analyzes the politics of budgetary and welfare state reform in the first episode of Euro-austerity during the 1990s, in countries where austerity’s impact was expected to be greatest. Based on in-depth comparative case studies of Belgium, Greece and Italy – three countries that seem far apart, but actually share crucial characteristics – “Euro-Austerity and Welfare States” shows that although scholars, policymakers and citizens alike expected Euro-austerity to erode Europe’s welfare states, the fate of the welfare state was in fact not preordained.
