Political responses to the economic crisis: Is it different this time?

Abstract

Responding to the financial and economic crisis that began in 2007-2008 - commonly called the Great Recession - has been a challenging and pressing problem for many governments, but in particular, for the advanced capitalist countries of Western Europe. These countries have experienced their most severe economic downturn since the 1930s. In this issue of the SPSR, we asked a set of prominent scholars to discuss and revisit several of the key existing results and expectations in comparative political economy in light of the events observed so far. While it is still too early to come up with a full understanding of the political dynamics in motion, this set of contributions provides a series of interesting observations and results that should stimulate further debate and research. In the remainder of this introduction, we both announce things to come and put them into context. © 2012 Swiss Political Science Association.