Abstract
This is a translation of a work of 2014, Die neue Ordnung auf dem alten Kontinent: eine Geschichte des neoliberalen Europa, originally published in 2014, with the addition of a short preface written after the Brexit referendum. The book is both good and flawed, and for similar reasons, mostly focused on the interaction of scholarship with a highly committed engagement. Ther, Professor of Central European History at the University of Vienna, may present himself as ready to use neoliberalism as a neutral, analytical term, but there is no doubt about his opinions, which are driven home with repeated rhetorical blows. Some are thoughtful, notably the argument that the dialectical construct of old versus new, and nostalgic versus progressive, was one of the key mechanisms of neoliberal reform discourse. Others are predictable and somewhat limited. The problems for social policy posed by economic slump receive much attention, as do the consequences for migration. This account is linked by Ther to a strongly politicized materialist mental map of Europe, one in which Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean do badly, with the fate of the latter becoming increasingly problematic.
However, Ther’s focus on his approach leads to an underplaying of other themes. When I sought to address this period as part of my Europe Since the Seventies (London: Reaktion, 2009), I led off with a discussion of environmental change. That element is badly underplayed by Ther, as indeed is much that is to do with culture, while the approach to politics is somewhat reductionist. And so on. Moreover, the geographical coverage is seriously limited. Why is there so little attention to Denmark, Norway, Ireland and Iceland in what claims to be a history of Europe? Why is the discussion of Britain so seriously flawed? Could not more have been made of developments across the 1989 divide, and, indeed, in a much longer timescale. Ultimately, this is an important contribution to a debate, but neither a history of Europe since 1989, nor one of Europe’s place in the world. Ther clearly has much talent. Hopefully, he can rise in his next book to the challenge set in the title of this one.