European responses to globalization and financial market integration

"This book investigates the perceptions of political actors towards the creation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in Europe. The research is largely based on personal interviews conducted with key informants in central banks, finance ministries, employers' organizations and trade unions in Britain, France and Germany during the intergovernmental conference leading to the Maastricht Treaty, and its immediate aftermath. It examines why actors perceived EMU to serve or frustrate their interests. The book compares these perceptions and draws conclusions about why EMU was perceived desirable. It concludes that many influential figures thought that the 1980s had shown that there was reduced room for manoeuvre in monetary policy-making, and that de facto German policies were being followed."--BOOK JACKET.