<p>Includes bibliographical references and index.</p>

Contents -- Ch. 1. the european union and the left -- Fragmentation and retreat of democracy -- The challenge for the left -- Ch. 2. the evolution of the eu since maastricht -- Neoliberalism and hegemony in the eu: drawing on hayek -- Neoliberalism and state monopoly over money -- Creating the euro: a lever of neoliberalism and conditional german hegemony -- The ¿architectural flaws¿ of the euro -- The broader context of conditional german hegemony -- Ch. 3. the ascendancy of germany and the division of europe -- A distinctive financialised economy -- The defeat of german labour in the 1990s -- The competitive advantage of germany and the creation of the southern periphery -- The unstable core of the emu and the central european periphery -- Ch. 4. the eurozone crisis: class interests and hegemonic power -- Crisis erupts -- Imposing a neoliberal agenda -- An unstable and fraught equilibrium -- Ch. 5. greece in the iron trap of the euro -- The proximate causes of the greek crisis -- Long-term weaknesses of the greek economy -- The lenders impose bail-outs and bring disaster -- Class and national interests in the greek disaster -- The political debacle of syriza -- Ch. 6. seeking democracy, sovereignty, and socialism -- Democracy and sovereignty in the eu, once again -- The impossibility of radical reform -- A class-based stance for the left -- What to do?.