Julien Mercille – författare

The European economic crisis has been ongoing since 2008 and while austerity has spread over the continent, it has failed to revive economies. The media have played an important ideological role in presenting the policies of economic and political elites in a favourable light, even if the latter’s aim has been to shift the burden of adjustment onto citizens. This book explains how and why, using a critical political economic perspective and focusing on the case of Ireland. Throughout, Ireland is compared with contemporary and historical examples to contextualise the arguments made. The book covers the housing bubble that led to the crash, the rescue of financial institutions by the state, the role of the European institutions and the International Monetary Fund, austerity, and the possibility of leaving the eurozone for Europe’s peripheral countries.Through a systematic analysis of Ireland’s main newspapers, it is argued that the media reflect elite views and interests and downplay alternative policies that could lead to more progressive responses to the crisis.

This book lifts the lid on the reality of Afghanistan’s growing drug trade and the role played by the US military in its trajectory. Where conventional accounts blame the Taliban for the expansion of drug production, Cruel Harvest shows that the US shares responsibility by supporting drug lords, refusing to adopt effective drug control policies and failing to crack down on drug money laundered through Western banks. Julien Mercille argues that the best way to address drug problems is by reducing demand in consumer countries, not by conducting fruitless and damaging counter narcotics missions in Afghanistan.

This book lifts the lid on the reality of Afghanistan’s growing drug trade and the role played by the US military in its trajectory. Where conventional accounts blame the Taliban for the expansion of drug production, Cruel Harvest shows that the US shares responsibility by supporting drug lords, refusing to adopt effective drug control policies and failing to crack down on drug money laundered through Western banks. Julien Mercille argues that the best way to address drug problems is by reducing demand in consumer countries, not by conducting fruitless and damaging counter narcotics missions in Afghanistan.

From bank bailouts to austerity, Europe's and Ireland's response to the economic crisis has been engineered specifically to shift the burden of paying for the crisis onto ordinary citizens while investors, financiers, bankers and the privileged are protected. The authors expose the class-based nature of Ireland's crisis resolution.