The Politics of European State Restructuring

This paper investigates the macro dynamics of state restructuring in Europe since the late 1980s. The authors explicate the role of technological change in the way state services are delivered, ideological influences about the size of the state and need to deregulate, socio economic pressures from the rise of financial interests and dualization of labour markets, and rise of populist parties of the left and right  in shaping state structures at both the European and national levels. Emphasising long term macro changes over the short term and crisis circumstances the paper challenges arguments about the transformation of the state, concluding that restructuring is a distinct dynamic which had to be analysed on its own terms.