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financial bodies, the trade Rounds and the FMI policies. ‘The consequences of the economic processes have been clearly identified and they show a high level of decline, not only in the world economic growth but also in the deterioration of the material living conditions of the citizens,’ Casuccio said and emphasized that ‘this process is the result of the concentration of wealth.’ In this context, the countries tend to join together in regional organizations such as the European Community and the Mercosur, in order tobe economically competitive and to attract new technologies and capital. Moreover, the research suggests that ‘the crisis
of the Welfare State is followed by the social inequity, the marginality and the exclusion of great sectors from the current economic development.’ In this sense, Casuccio stressed that ‘the visible unequal wealth distribution, in developed countries as well as developing countries, derives in many tensions and social problems that the different governments must deal with.’ Facing the future, the project expresses the need to rethink or reformulate the neoliberal economic model. ‘The crisis has not been solved and it will continue to deepen until it will become unsustainable.’ In view of this situation, the researcher considered that ‘the solution lies in a greater participation and in a more active role of the state,’ De Luca concluded.
Case study The United States has been, together with Great Britain, a world example in all the previously mentioned reorganizations. The big push given by the President Ronald Reagan and the successive administrations, regardless of their political affiliations, did not limit the advance of the financial sector but it was its main driving force. This process was reflected in an economic reorganization in the principal world economy of the time, leading it to what was called the ‘the casino economy’-because of its strong speculationswhich resulted in the subprime mortgage crisis, a complication that still has not been solved. In the case of the United Kingdom, the policies adopted consolidated the fall of the Keynesian Welfare State. The expected inflationary deceleration was achieved, firstly, based on the monetary adjustment policies. This analysis was complemented by the study of the French case, which shared many similarities but also had its own singularities. During the 90s, Germany had to face two challenges at the same time: the reunification with the German Democratic Republic and the implementation of the European Economic and Monetary Union. This was the legacy of the social democratic Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, along with the challenge of redirecting the economy. Finally, the progressive dissolutionof the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics put an end to the Cold Warthat led to a worldwide geopolitical and military reconfiguration. Additionally, the disappearance of the main enemy of the Western capitalism provided a context for the implementation of a deep structural process of change in the global economy. Its most clear expression is neoliberalism that assumed the shape of the financializationof the national economies. In this new context, the former socialist economies in Central and Eastern Europe started their process of transition and convergence with capitalism, with different aims, means and results.
UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE LOMAS DE ZAMORA