Transnational Networks of the Sovereign Debt Restructuring Regime

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The European Union was struck by the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis in 2010, with the Greek state being acutely affected, and only recently emerging from the last economic adjustment programme in August 2018. During this period, the Greek debt restructuring was a particularly complex issue. Using the Greek debt restructuring as a case study, I look at to what degree the social networks concerning sovereign insolvency in which EU and European actors are embedded enabled effective action. Over and above my argument about the enabling role of networks to deal with complexity in sovereign debt restructuring, I further point to the central role of legal professionals and their legal networks in controlling the issue of how sovereign debt restructuring should unfold through their reflexive professional activities, while they cooperate with organisations across opposing institutional visions of the issue of sovereign debt. Furthermore, in the evolution of the sovereign debt restructuring regime following the Greek debt restructuring, EU actors are noticeably absent from the legal networks, which I conclude is connected to them having their own expert committee on sovereign debt and the European Stability Mechanism Treaty having prescribed contractual clauses for Euro area bonds to enable more efficient Eurozone sovereign debt restructurings in the future.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationGlobal Networks and European Actors : Navigating and Managing Complexity
EditorsJacob Hasselbalch, George Christou
Number of pages20
PublisherRoutledge
Publication date2021
Chapter7
ISBN (Electronic)9781003153382
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

ID: 252064472