The European Green Deal and the New Deal

The 2019 European Green Deal and the New Deal share a name: but are there more substantive connections between these two ‘deals’? By recalling the significance of the New Deal in the historical context of the United States in the 1930’s, this study explores the ways in which both reforms seek to transform the constitutive values of the state and of the marketplace. Both deals also challenge economic orthodoxy and widely-held cultural values that shift blame onto individuals to distract from systemic failures. These parallels – as well as some key differences – can help us to better understand the significance of what Green Deal has, and has not, achieved.