Europe after the Minotaur: Greece and the Future of the Global Economy

by Yanis Varoufakis

Syriza’s victory in the Greek general election in January 2015 is a truly historic and profound event – the first government of the radical left in Europe since World War Two. In this short ebook, extracted from the updated edition of The Global Minotaur, Yanis Varoufakis, the new finance minister of Greece and a Syriza MP, outlines his economic and political thinking and how he believes Europe can move beyond cuts and austerity.

Varoufakis shows how today’s crisis in Europe is one inevitable symptom of a global ‘system’ which is now as unsustainable as it is imbalanced. With powerful clarity and conviction, he lays out the options available to us for reintroducing reason into a highly irrational global economic order.

This is a unique insight into the thinking of a key figure in the Syriza government, who is set to become a hugely influential figure in European politics.

Genres: Economics, Politics, Nonfiction

60 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 28, 2015

About the author

Ioannis "Yanis" Varoufakis is a Greek-Australian economist and politician. A former academic, he has been Secretary-General of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), a left-wing pan-European political party he co-founded in 2016. A former member of Syriza, he served as Minister of Finance from January to July 2015 under Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

Reviews

[Ed · Rating 2 out of 5]

This short ebook is an excerpt from Yanis Varoufakis's book The Global Minotaur. It's part of the next to last chapter and the last chapter of book as well as the preface and post-script to the second edition of the book. While I've always enjoyed interviews with Varoufakis and I get the feeling I would enjoy reading the actual book, this excerpt doesn't really hold together coherently. It references many concepts (the Global Minotaur, Global Surplus Recycling Mechanism, etc.) and facts that were established in early chapters without explaining them so it's very easy to get lost in his arguments. I already have some familiarity with these ideas and issues and I can't imagine someone without that reading this and getting anything out of it at all.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been advertised as a new book, but it's really 'only' the additional chapters added to Varoufakis's earlier masterwork THE GLOBAL MINOTAUR. Very much worth reading, even for those who haven't yet read the entire book.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Balance as the workers of Europe work and pay taxes so the Greeks perpetuate their sinecures and get paid from the sweat of the other workers. Sounds like a sweet deal. And it is, just like any Nationalist project.

[Alex Salamakha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book by Yannis Varoufakis! I find myself agreeing with the author on many topics and I find his way of writing extremely engaging and passionate. It’s always great to look back at books like this and compare suggestions with what actually happened.... Yannis is a dreamer but the world need dreamers, those passionate and visionary dreamers.

[Marijan Lesko · Rating 5 out of 5]

i might not be sharing the author's political views in any way, shape or form, but he explained a few interesting points on EU mess. And, that mess will become even bigger... Some Europeans work, some Europeans enjoy work and life and some enjoy life on other people's backs and pile debt ... God help EU.

[Dozy Pilchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth reading. An alternative. We so need alternatives at this stage.

[Knightofni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Accessible introduction to the economics of the EU

[Jan Tománek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book by chance and was surprised to find nowadays Greek finance minister's opinions that interesting.

Varoufakis describes the current economic system of our world as a "Global Minotaur" (if you're not familiar with this term or with the concept of "Surplus Recycling Mechanism" I recommend reading the chapter "The Global Minotaur hypothesis: a summary" before reading the beginning of the book).

The weakest point (supported by cherry picking) of this book is author's defense describing Greece and other periphery states as mere victims of the Global Minotaur and "bankruptocracy". While I agree with his criticism of the USA, Germany and other surplus states, periphery states are also to blame.

Still, I would prefer Varoufakis's solutions to the current crisis compared to creepy crawly policies implemented by non-elected bureaucrats and central bankers (looking at your, Mario) with salami tactics, if I were forced to choose between the two (or at least given choice, haha).

But while his honestly socialistic vision of EMU fiscal union is based upon yet another round of debt-financing, in my opinion "real savings come first if you want to invest".

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yanis offers a continued dialog, building upon his prior work, on the tragedy that is our current state of affairs. The struggle between many truths both of right and left. Whether it's the vulgar Keynesians or the austere 'to a fault' Germans or the Global Minotaur, in the Hegelian tradition, Yanis catalogs meticulously the ideas and actors he dislikes then goes about uncovering what underlying good idea or important need they're serving. While the former dialog Yanis offered was more exhaustive, this text did offer newer perspectives. It has to be said also, whether consciously or not, Yanis' format to his prose are quite a delight to read digitally which is appreciated as a reader and outside the norm.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

As this book is just an excerpt from Varoufakis's longer work, it misses a lot of information and the reader doesn't get the entire picture of his argument. Not sure what this ebook is for, and with the recent election results that put Varoufakis's hardliners out of power, I'm not sure it's really all that relevant any longer.

[Basiliki-rhiannon Barrowman · Rating 5 out of 5]

hit the nail on the head

I am going to re read this because it says a lot things that most people don't cover be it on the mainstream media, the newspapers or even on radio. It seems like a good book to me because it exposes the downside of excessive greed and excessive usury!

[Irma Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a splendid idea to liken the pre-2008 economics to the Minotaur. The explanations made a lot of sense to me, having lived through that time, but never really getting the pattern behind all the confusing news.