Variegated Capitalism, das Modell Deutschland, and the Eurozone Crisis

Abstract

This article proposes the concept of variegated capitalism as an alternative to the mainstream study of comparative capitalism. It illustrates its plausibility and potential by analysing the halting development of the European Union's initial integration of six broadly complementary ‘Rhenish’ economies to today's relatively incoherent, crisis-prone variegated capitalist (dis)order. In particular, it focuses on the organization of European economic space in the shadow of das Modell Deutschland and its insertion into a world market that is organized in the shadow of neoliberalism. This is then related to the Eurozone crisis, the crisis in Eurozone crisis management and attempts to introduce a new ‘union method’ of economic governance.