I know I'm taking a leap in assuming a GFC would even occur if the Soviet Union still existed, but hey, the economy is supposedly cyclical. And it's hard to see the neoliberal deregulation not leading to some kind of collapse.
So let's say the Soviet Union is still around. They reformed enough to survive but aren't perceived as having completely abandoned communism, so communism isn't completely discredited among Westerners. In America, Glass-Steagall gets repealed more or less on schedule, and the internet boom and bust still occurs. Maybe no 9/11 since the Jihadists are still battling communists, but you still have a recession in the early noughties and the feds react by blowing up a housing bubble. Meanwhile in Europe, the EEC might not rename itself(doesn't make much sense talking about a European Union when Europe is split in half), but it probably continues to expand European economic integration. And all the PIIGS are members.
And then, sometime in the late noughties, the shit hits the fan. Hello recession. Hello crisis of confidence in capitalism. And maybe, just maybe, places like Greece would be saying hello to communism?
So let's say the Soviet Union is still around. They reformed enough to survive but aren't perceived as having completely abandoned communism, so communism isn't completely discredited among Westerners. In America, Glass-Steagall gets repealed more or less on schedule, and the internet boom and bust still occurs. Maybe no 9/11 since the Jihadists are still battling communists, but you still have a recession in the early noughties and the feds react by blowing up a housing bubble. Meanwhile in Europe, the EEC might not rename itself(doesn't make much sense talking about a European Union when Europe is split in half), but it probably continues to expand European economic integration. And all the PIIGS are members.
And then, sometime in the late noughties, the shit hits the fan. Hello recession. Hello crisis of confidence in capitalism. And maybe, just maybe, places like Greece would be saying hello to communism?