The crisis in the periphery of the eurozone in Greece, Portugal and Spain suggests that, besides the badly conceived architecture of the euro system and the imbalances produced by the underlying mechanisms, there are defi nite specifi c domestic factors at work. Over the last three decades, government policies in all the three countries have been regressive rather than progressive. The distinction between socialist and conservative parties broke down in the late 1980s, with the former embracing neo-liberalism.
