By Matthew Turk

The G20 Summit

At the recent G20 Summit, European leaders butted heads with the Obama administration by opposing further stimulus spending and calling for greater fiscal “austerity.”  The move to fiscal tightening, even during unsteady economic times, reveals the profound affect that the Greek debt crisis has had on policymakers in other European countries.  In particular, it indicates a common concern that growing public debt poses near-term challenges to the continued viability of an economically integrated European Union.  The potential unraveling of the legal-institutional structures of European integration uproots assumptions about international law held by commentators across the ideological spectrum.