A German edition of 'Austerity. The great failure' is in the making and I am preparing a foreword to address some of the peculiarities of the German debate about 'Austerität'.
Over the last months when I told German friends what I was working on they usually went 'Austerity? What's that?'. And, once you explain what austerity is many will be bewildered by the notion that anyone could consider it to be a failure. This is not only because Germany is not feeling the pinch of the current crisis as much as other countries. It's also because of the ways in which certain economic beliefs have become part of (West) German national identity in the post-war period. Foucault has made some very insightful remarks about this in the 70s in his lectures at the Collège de France. I will try bring some of this into the foreword.
But in order to gauge what passes through the mind of German readers when they hear 'Austerität' I have asked some German friends and colleagues to send me their questions and comments. I will distill them and reply on this blog as a way to develop and share my own ideas.
Please feel free to write with comments and questions (even if you're not German.)
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