Creative Reconstructions: Multilateralism and European Varieties of Capitalism after 1950 (Cornell Studies in Political Economy)

Twentieth-century Europe was an intense laboratory of capitalist experimentation. Confronted with economic booms and crises, technological revolutions, and economic globalization, Western Europe’s governments constantly explored alternative ways of managing domestic economic systems and international commerce. Bridging comparative and international political economy, Creative Reconstructions compellingly expands our understanding of the historic relationship between varieties of capitalism and international cooperation. Orfeo Fioretos’ pathbreaking analysis places multilateral institutions at the center of the study of capitalism. He highlights the role played by governments’ multilateral strategies in shaping the national trajectories of capitalism in Great Britain, France, and Germany. Fioretos shows that membership in international organizations such as the European Union and its precursors was an integral innovation in the domestic management of capitalism that came to play a central, if varied, role in shaping the evolution of modern market economies.

Spanning six decades from the postwar period to the global crisis of 2008, Creative Reconstructions details the opportunities and constraints that multilateral engagements entailed for reforms in national financial, corporate governance, industrial relations, and innovation systems. In vivid analytical narratives, Fioretos shows how multilateral institutions served to reinforce and at times to undermine ambitious domestic reform programs. Creative Reconstructions deepens our understanding of modern capitalism in Europe and offers valuable lessons for regions beyond its borders.