What Kind of Europe?

Erscheinungsjahr 2008
ISBN: 978-0-19-927948-7
Verlag: OUP Oxford

Buch, Englisch, 264 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 406 g

Description

Updated and expanded version of the very well received hardback edition

A timely contribution to the debate on the future of Europe

Analyses crucial issues including the single currency, economic and welfare policies, immigration, defence, and Europe's relationship with the USA

Written for a wide audience, by one of Europe's leading scholars on European integration

Challenges Europeans to become more politically aware of the democratic choices facing them

New to this edition

Updated and expanded edition, to take account of important developments since publication of the hardback edition

As the European Union takes in new members, What Kind of Europe? pinpoints the crucial issues which will shape its future as a regional, economic and political entity. Loukas Tsoukalis is one of the world's leading scholars on European integration; in this updated and expanded version of the very succesful hardback edition he writes for any reader interested in the key democratic choices facing Europe's citizens.

European integration is not a politically neutral process. There are key democratic choices to be made about trade-offs between efficiency, equity, and stability; productivity and a cleaner environment; integration and diversity; rule by experts and elected representatives in the management of the single market and the euro; the degree and kind of solidarity across boundaries; the geographical limits of Europe's fledgling common identity; the export of peace and stability to the near abroad and beyond; and the defence of common values and interests in a world where the ascendancy of markets and the highly unequal distribution of political power increasingly challenge those features that still make Europe distinct from other regions of the world.

There is certain to be disagreement on these issues, by the very nature of democracy. But Europeans need to become more aware of the issues and the choices they imply. Europeans have long pretended that inter-country divisions are the only ones that really count, and that the choice is essentially between more or less Europe. This no longer adequately reflects the real effects of integration. Political debate becomes distorted, and there is precious little of it on issues which can no longer be dealt with effectively at the national level. It is time to move on, building on a politically mature Europe. What kind of Europe now becomes the key question.

Contents

Preface

1 What Kind of Europe

Part 1: Taking Stock

2 The Gap Between Politics and Economics - Or, Perception and Reality

3 Winners and Losers.

4. and the Rest of the World: Americans and Others

Part 2: The Main Challenges Ahead

5 Economic Governance and Policy Choices

6 EMU: A Unifying Factor

7 Extending Pax Europea

Part 3: Conclusions

8 What is at Stake?

Select Bibliography

Zielgruppe

Scholars and students of the European Union, especially those interested in European internal and external policy, the European economy, European identity, and International Relations, readers interested in the future of Europe, and the issues and choices facing Europeans

Autoren/Hrsg.

Tsoukalis, Loukas

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Europäische Union, Europapolitik
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Europäische Union, Europa: Wirtschaft
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftswissenschaften: Allgemeines
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Volkswirtschaftslehre Allgemein Arbeitsmarkt

Über Autor(innen)

Loukas Tsoukalis, Jean Monnet Professor of European Organization at the University of Athens; Professorial Fellow in the Pierre Werner Chair, Robert Schuman Centre, European University Institute, Florence; President of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP)