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Chapter1
TheeconomiccrisisinGreece,Spain,andItaly
TomaszKubin
1.1Introductorynotes
ThefalloftheAmericaninvestmentbank,theLehmanBrothers,on15Sep-
tember2008markedthesymbolicstartoftheeconomiccrisis(thesymptoms
ofwhichhadalreadybeenobservedearlier).Thecrisisisconsideredasthe
deepestandmostprolongedsincetheso-calledGreatDepressionofthe1930s.
ItaffectedprimarilytheUSAandEuropeandledtosuchproblemsaseconomic
recession,anincreaseofpublicsectordeficit,publicdebt,problemswithprivate
debt(bothfornaturalandlegalpersons),anincreaseinunemployment,decrease
oftheaveragepublicwealth,etc.
Theproblemsaffectparticularstatesinvaryingdegrees.Thelengthoftime
inwhichtheparticularstatesstruggled(orkeepstruggling)withtheafore-
mentionedissuesvaried.Also,thecausesoftheeconomicproblemsofthe
particularstates,especiallythoseaffectedbythecrisisthemost,werenotthe
same1thecrisisintheUSAwassomewhatofacatalystwhichrevealed,and
probablyalsoacceleratedandmagnified,thestates’specificfaults,imbalances,
tensions,etc.
Theconsequencesofthecrisisgofarbeyondastrictlyeconomicframe-
work.Theyconcernboththeoreticalmatters(generallyspeakingmostlyviews
ontheroleandimportanceofthestateanditsinstitutionsonthefunctioningof
thestate),aswellasthepracticalaspectsofthefunctioningofstatesorinterna-
tionalorganisations(suchastheEuropeanUnionortheInternationalMonetary
Fund).Thepoliticalconsequencesoftheeconomiccrisisinthreechosenstates
oftheEU,namely,itsimpactontheshapeandfunctioningoftheirpolitical
systems,arethemainsubjectofthisstudyandwillbediscussedindetailinits