AUR congratulates International Relations & Global Politics professor, Cecilia Sottilotta, on the recent publication of Equality, Freedom, and Democracy. Europe After the Great Recession. Published by Oxford University Press, this open-access monograph is a wide ranging study that:

  • Provides empirically grounded analysis for politicians and voters to understand the possibilities and limits of democracy
  • Examines how and why the two traditional democratic values (freedom and equality) are implemented in the largest European countries
  • Examines how freedom and equality have developed across a thirty year period since 1990, particularly focusing on the impact of the 2008 Great Recession

Freedom and equality are widely considered the two most important values in a liberal democracy. This wide-ranging study examines how both have developed across a thirty year period since 1990, and in particular the effect on them of the Great Recession of 2008. Drawing on extensive data from the six largest European democracies - France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom - the author offers a comparative analysis of how the respective pursuit of both values has developed over the period, and seeks to explain the variations he finds. In addition, he assesses the impact of the European Union on those two fundamental democratic values, as well the nature and extent of demands for them on the part of citizens and party leaders. He concludes by drawing out the implications of his analysis for the future of European democracy.

Click here to find out more about this new publication.