"Amerikanisierung" Europas?: Zur Vereinbarkeit von Wirtschaftsliberalismus und demokratischem Wohlfahrtsstaat

Abstract: The paper approaches the question whether a distinctive European answer to the challenges of globalization, neo-liberalism, and social disintegration is both available and feasible. After describing the influence the American model of capital accumulation exerted on Europe's economic, social, and cultural development, the paper argues that, in spite of the hegemonic project the United States pursued after WW II, viable national variants of capitalism developed in Western Europe and Japan. With the exhaustion of the Fordist model of accumulation in the 70s and 80s a new constellation arises that threatens the social compromise the European welfare state is based upon. The globalization of production and the politics and ideology of neo-liberalism work hand in hand, producing a shift in the balance of social forces, decreasing national capacities of economic regulation, growing inequality, and the marginalisation of a growing number of social groups. Although there is a convergence of fundamental trends in regard of the modes of accumulation, we are stuck in a highly ambiguous and indeterminate situation. The erosion of national particularities does not lead to total homogeneity, neither inside the triad of USA, Japan andEurope nor inside the European Union. The crises of the traditional welfare state in Europe can only be overcome if a new, independent model of "Social Europe" will be constructed. In doing so Europe faces a dilemma: Only if it manages to overcome neo-liberal policies and develop a common vision of the future it will gain the freedom of action that is needed for such an endeavor and that is lacking at the national level.;