Alan Cafruny, the Henry Platt Bristol Professor of International Affairs, presented a paper at the 7th Conference of the European Sociological Association Institute of Sociology, held at Nicolas Copernicus University in Torun, Poland. The paper, titled "The EMU and the Transatlantic and Social Dimensions of the Crises of the European Union," was co-authored by Professor of Political Science Magnus Ryner of the University of Birmingham, UK. The paper challenged the conventional belief that the launching of the Euro represents an unprecedented level of European integration and a more even balance of power between the European Union and the United States. Cafruny and his co-author stated that "We have argued in this paper that the crisis of the [Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union (EMU)] arises from two fundamental contradictions: first, the political and economic imperatives of EMU as presently constituted undermine essential features of European welfare capitalism as it has developed since World War II. Second, EMU is incompatible with the further development of European solidarity and, hence, the establishment of a common fiscal policy."
-- by Laura Trubiano '07
