Crisis Without End?: The Unravelling of Western Prosperity

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Paperback
2014
$29.65

This major re-assessment by a leading political economist shows that the 2008 financial crash was no ordinary crisis, but the harbinger of a much deeper convulsion comparable to the major past crises of capitalism. While it is still uncertain whether it will become a transformative crisis for the international order, what we do know already is that:

* While the crash particularly affected western states, and those unevenly, no part of the international economy is immune from its effects.
* While the immediate crisis was contained, its magnitude is shown by how long it has taken western economies to recover, and by the need for exceptional measures, such as near-zero interest rates over a prolonged period.
* There is not a single crisis, but a series of crises, highlighting in particular a deeper set of dilemmas about western leadership, democracy and prosperity which unless addressed, will preclude sustained recovery and pave the way to new and deeper crises.

Andrew Gamble maps out likely scenarios in a turbulent world in which the weakening of the old western international order as a result of the decline in the capacities and will of the United States combine with internal deadlocks in both the US and the Eurozone over the management of austerity and debt and in many of the rising powers, especially China, over the management of growth and rising expectations. The path to a new era of prosperity depends on a reformed international order, solutions to budget as well as fiscal deficits, and new forms of sustainable growth. But these demand a political will so far notable by its absence at all levels without which there is little prospect of escape from a future of crisis without end.

Synopsis

This major re-assessment by a leading political economist shows that the 2008 financial crash was no ordinary crisis, but the harbinger of a much deeper convulsion comparable to the major past crises of capitalism. While it is still uncertain whether it will become a transformative crisis for the international order, what we do know already is that:

* While the crash particularly affected western states, and those unevenly, no part of the international economy is immune from its effects.
* While the immediate crisis was contained, its magnitude is shown by how long it has taken western economies to recover, and by the need for exceptional measures, such as near-zero interest rates over a prolonged period.
* There is not a single crisis, but a series of crises, highlighting in particular a deeper set of dilemmas about western leadership, democracy and prosperity which unless addressed, will preclude sustained recovery and pave the way to new and deeper crises.

Andrew Gamble maps out likely scenarios in a turbulent world in which the weakening of the old western international order as a result of the decline in the capacities and will of the United States combine with internal deadlocks in both the US and the Eurozone over the management of austerity and debt and in many of the rising powers, especially China, over the management of growth and rising expectations. The path to a new era of prosperity depends on a reformed international order, solutions to budget as well as fiscal deficits, and new forms of sustainable growth. But these demand a political will so far notable by its absence at all levels without which there is little prospect of escape from a future of crisis without end.

$29.65

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 240
Edition: 2014
Publisher: Red Globe Press
Published: 27 Jun 2014
ISBN 10: 0230367089
ISBN 13: 9780230367081
Book Overview: Andrew Gamble asks exactly the right question: have we bested the tempest of 2008 or busted the neoliberal growth model? He gives us four possible answers to this question, none of them comforting, all of them plausible. Crisis without End? is the new benchmark for sober and scholarly assessment of the (supposedly) post crisis world. - Mark Blyth, Brown University and author of Austerity. Undoubtedly the best book I have read on the crisis - seamlessly drawing together analytical insights from a wonderfully rich career. This is essential reading for all those who have lived through the crisis and especially for those who would claim to be leading us out of it. Its central message and clear warnings are simply too important to be ignored. - Colin Hay, Sciences Po, Paris Thoughtful and thought-provoking, Andrew Gamble explains lucidly how the disagreements about the current economic crisis between realistic pragmatists and their radical critics are grounded in murky data and contestable conjectures. In the twilight only Hegel's sharp-eyed owl discerns dawn from dusk. - Peter J. Katzenstein, Cornell University Andrew Gamble's contribution to the study of political economy is second to none. Crisis Without End? is a crowning achievement: wise, pellucid and challenging. Gamble is no Doctor Pangloss, but he shows that, given courage and skill, we can master events instead of allowing them to master us. - David Marquand, Oxford University A brilliant book, remarkable for its insights into the origins and trajectory of the crisis of neo-liberal capitalism, and the key challenges it faces. A must read for anyone who wants to know not just why the crisis happened but also why and how it may-or may not-be resolved. - Vivien A. Schmidt, Boston University Theoretically informed and empirically grounded, and taking its subject as seriously as it deserves, this is the most penetrating account yet of the ongoing crisis of neoliberal capitalism. - Wolfgang Streeck, Max Planck Institute and The New School for Social Research A sobering analysis of the structural crisis of the neo-liberal order. Andrew Gamble grapples with remarkable dexterity and erudition with the big issue it confronts: no hegemon any longer able to manage the system and no credible political alternatives as yet able effectively to challenge it. - Loukas Tsoukalis, Athens University

Media Reviews

Andrew Gamble asks exactly the right question: have we bested the tempest of 2008 or busted the neoliberal growth model? He gives us four possible answers to this question, none of them comforting, all of them plausible. Crisis without End? is the new benchmark for sober and scholarly assessment of the (supposedly) post crisis world. - Mark Blyth, Brown University and author of Austerity. Undoubtedly the best book I have read on the crisis - seamlessly drawing together analytical insights from a wonderfully rich career. This is essential reading for all those who have lived through the crisis and especially for those who would claim to be leading us out of it. Its central message and clear warnings are simply too important to be ignored. - Colin Hay, Sciences Po, Paris Thoughtful and thought-provoking, Andrew Gamble explains lucidly how the disagreements about the current economic crisis between realistic pragmatists and their radical critics are grounded in murky data and contestable conjectures. In the twilight only Hegel's sharp-eyed owl discerns dawn from dusk. - Peter J. Katzenstein, Cornell University Andrew Gamble's contribution to the study of political economy is second to none. Crisis Without End? is a crowning achievement: wise, pellucid and challenging. Gamble is no Doctor Pangloss, but he shows that, given courage and skill, we can master events instead of allowing them to master us. - David Marquand, Oxford University A brilliant book, remarkable for its insights into the origins and trajectory of the crisis of neo-liberal capitalism, and the key challenges it faces. A must read for anyone who wants to know not just why the crisis happened but also why and how it may-or may not-be resolved. - Vivien A. Schmidt, Boston University Theoretically informed and empirically grounded, and taking its subject as seriously as it deserves, this is the most penetrating account yet of the ongoing crisis of neoliberal capitalism. - Wolfgang Streeck, Max Planck Institute and The New School for Social Research A sobering analysis of the structural crisis of the neo-liberal order. Andrew Gamble grapples with remarkable dexterity and erudition with the big issue it confronts: no hegemon any longer able to manage the system and no credible political alternatives as yet able effectively to challenge it. - Loukas Tsoukalis, Athens University

Author Bio

Andrew Gamble is Professor of Politics at the University of Cambridge, UK. His many books include The Spectre at the Feast, Britain in Decline and The Free Economy and the Strong State also published by Palgrave Macmillan. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Academy of Social Sciences and was awarded the Sir Isaiah Berlin Prize for Lifetime Contribution to Political Studies by the UK Political Studies Association in 2005.