Progressive Think Tanks: Comparing Progressive European, German and Finnish Think Tank Proposals during the Financial Crisis

The European debt crisis was a moment of possibility to re-evaluate the dominant neoliberal paradigm. However, despite the initial stimulus reactions, the European decision-makers chose to return to austerity in the spring of 2010. One reason for the resilience of the paradigm could be the lack of presented alternatives. This paper analyses whether three progressive think tanks, Foundation for European Progressive Studies, Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung and Kalevi Sorsa Foundation proposed alternatives to the austerity measures and the economic paradigm of the European economic governance in 2010. The outcome is that they indeed offered alternatives. The reason why these views were not influential, is a question for further investigation that is conducted in my doctoral research.