Overview

As the European Union gets ready to take it's new members, IWhat 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 book he writes for any reader interested in the key democratic choices facing 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. But the agenda must now be to build a politically mature Europe. What kind of Europe becomes the key question.

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9780199266661

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What Kind of Europe? represents an interesting mosaic of the most important themes that today compose the complex process of European integration ... includes up-to-date data and many user-friendly graphs ... Tsoukalis's work raises interesting questions and provides an important blueprint for further integration. It is thought provoking and carefully crafted. As such I recommend it to all those, whether academics, students, or simple citizens, who are concerned with European issues. It is definitely good value for money. Environment and Planning Tsoukalis makes a compelling case that a lively debate about Europe is needed ... With a velvet glove and a nuanced study, Tsoukalis wields an effective hammer. International Herald Tribune [Tsoukalis's] work poses important, even awkward questions about Europe's future, questions too rarely and obliquely asked of the EU ... He is far from being the first author to ask such important and some times obvious questions, but he does so effectively and with style. International Herald Tribune Tsoukalis, a noted expert on European matters, has performed an admirable service with this medium-length text that is substantively fulfilling and can appeal to the non- specialist. International Herald Tribune Loukas Tsoukalis ... is an EU insider par excellence. He has managed to write a book about the European Union which takes on big questions and writes about them in clear and lively language ... all sides in the argument about the future of the European Union would profit from reading his book, which manages to summarise old arguments in a succinct and accessible way, while also introducing stimulating new ideas to the debate. The Economist ... this is not just one more book on the theory of European integration, nor a specialized study of the intricacies of EU governance and policymaking. It is, quite simply, the most readable, comprehensive, and balanced account yet of an extraordinary experiment in interstate cooperation ... an admirable piece of work. Foreign Affairs

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