Sick man of Europe
From Free net encyclopedia
The sick man of Europe is a nickname associated with a European country experiencing a time of economic difficulty and/or poverty.
Origin
In the 19th century the Ottoman Empire was dismissed by Nicholas I of Russia as "the sick man of Europe" because it was increasingly falling under the financial control of the European powers and had lost territory in a series of disastrous wars. This view led the Allies in World War I to underestimate it, leading in part to the disastrous Dardanelles Campaign.
Contemporary use
In the 1970s the United Kingdom was known by this name because of industrial strife and poor economic performance compared to other European countries. Spain had such nickname due to the economic difficulties during the last years of Francisco Franco's reign and the period following the dictator's death until circa 1983.
The Republic of Ireland was also known by this term during a long period of poverty, before the Celtic Tiger (a nickname for Ireland's booming economy) grew in the 1980's, creating thousands of jobs and making the Irish economy one of the fastest growing in western Europe. The term was also used in describing Portugal before the Portuguese economy made a recovery in the 1990's.
Since the early 1990s, Russia and most of Eastern Europe received such nickname due to the severe economic hardships of the time, as well as the soaring rates in alcoholism, drug abuse, and AIDS that led to a negative population growth and falling life expectancies (although, in recent years, it has shown signs of slowing down).
The term was applied to the Russian Federation more recently in the book "Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the End of Revolution" by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser (Scribner). In this book, chapter nine is titled "Sick Man of Europe."
In the late 1990s, the press labeled Germany with this term because of its economic problems.
In May 2005 The Economist attributed this title to Italy, covering "The real sick man of Europe". It refers to Italy's endemic problems, in particular structural and political difficulties thought to inhibit economic reforms which were heavily needed to relaunch economic growth.