Leadership Skills, Style of Power and Influence over Regional Policies of Germany in the Post-Crisis Europe (2012-2015)

Capacidades de Liderança, Estilo de Poder e Influência sobre as Políticas Regionais da Alemanha na Europa Pós-crise (2012-2015)

Authors

  • Valerio Alfonso Bruno Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan, Italy
  • Giacomo Finzi National University of Colombia (Bogotá D.C.)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21814/perspectivas.115

Keywords:

Germany, Regional Power, Europe, Leadership, Crisis

Abstract

Since the Eurozone crisis, scholars framed dierent interpretations about the power role of Germany in Europe, pointing at the possible return of the “German question”. Recently, with the “Brexit”, the populist tensions within the EU and the election of Trump as US president, Germany on the contrary, was regarded as the last bastion of the liberal order by Western media. Starting from the premise that with the global economic crisis Germany acquired a supremacy position in Europe “by default”, we proceed by confuting the idea of Germany as a coercive hegemon, without falling into idealistic interpretations. To do so, we define an analytical framework distinguishing leadership and hegemony and insisting on the importance of the context of permanent multi-level crisis in Europe. The argument we advance is that between 2012 and 2015 Germany played a positive power role in Europe, exhibiting appreciable leadership skills, vast regional influence and, first of all, a style of power closer to a benign multilateral leadership than to a coercive unilateral hegemony. The empirical research is based on three case studies from dierent policy areas, the Banking Union (2012-2013), the European migration crisis (2014-2015) and the Russia-Ukraine conflict (2014-2015).

Resumo

Desde a crise da zona do euro, os investigadores elaboraram diferentes interpretações sobre o papel do poder da Alemanha na Europa, apontando para o possível retorno da “questão alemã”. Recentemente, com o "Brexit", as tensões populistas na UE e a eleição de Trump como presidente dos EUA, a Alemanha seguiu o caminho contrário, sendo considerada o último bastião da ordem liberal pela comunicação social ocidental. Partindo da premissa de que, com a crise económica global, a Alemanha adquiriu uma posição de supremacia na Europa "by default", prosseguimos confundindo a ideia da Alemanha como um poder hegemónico coercitivo, sem cair em interpretações idealistas. Para isso, definimos uma estrutura analítica que distingue liderança e hegemonia e insistindo na importância do contexto de permanente crise multinível na Europa. O argumento que avançamos é que, entre 2012 e 2015, a Alemanha desempenhou um papel positivo de poder na Europa, exibindo habilidades de liderança apreciáveis, vasta influência regional e, sobretudo, um estilo de poder mais próximo de uma liderança multilateral benigna do que de uma hegemonia unilateral coerciva. A investigação empírica baseia-se em três estudos de caso de diferentes áreas políticas, a União Bancária (2012-2013), a crise migratória europeia (2014-2015) e o conflito Rússia-Ucrânia (2014-2015).

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Author Biographies

Valerio Alfonso Bruno, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan, Italy

holds a Ph.D. in “Institutions and Policies” from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano, Italy (2017).

Giacomo Finzi, National University of Colombia (Bogotá D.C.)

Professor Assistant at the Law and Political Science Faculty, National University of Colombia (Bogotá D.C.).

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Published

2018-06-27

How to Cite

Bruno, V. A., & Finzi, G. (2018). Leadership Skills, Style of Power and Influence over Regional Policies of Germany in the Post-Crisis Europe (2012-2015): Capacidades de Liderança, Estilo de Poder e Influência sobre as Políticas Regionais da Alemanha na Europa Pós-crise (2012-2015). Perspectivas - Journal of Political Science, (18), 28–43. https://doi.org/10.21814/perspectivas.115

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