Routledge Contemporary Europe

Europe is one of the most dynamic and interesting areas of the world, pioneering in the European Union a new form of governance for half a billion people, represented in the world’s first directly elected transnational parliament. This book situates the European Union in a broader European, global, historical and geographical context, providing a readable presentation of the most important facts and drawing on the theoretical approaches which have transformed the study of contemporary Europe over the past two decades. The European Union is still on the road to what has been called 'an unknown destination', and this book presents its economic, political, legal and social trajectory from the middle of the last century to the present. Contemporary Europe covers some of these issues in an interdisciplinary framework, aiming to situate the development of the European Union in a broader context of pan-European and global processes. Europe has been cut down to size, but it does not have to become a global backwater, and the study of contemporary Europe’s institutional reality does not have to be boring The book counter this misperception, conveying the essential facts and theories of contemporary European reality in a clear and approachable analysis. It will serve as a readable introduction both to the academic field of European studies and to contemporary Europe itself. Review "In the current political climate, it has become increasingly common to suggest that we are witnessing ‘the end of the European project’. Eurosceptic attitudes are widespread, not only in the UK but also in continental Europe, including in those countries that have traditionally been regarded as ‘Europhile’ or ‘pro-European’. In this tension-laden and crisis-ridden context, more and more people seem to take the view that European matters – notably, European politics – are, at best, boring or, at worst, largely irrelevant to our lives. William Outhwaite is to be applauded for having done a superb job in deconstructing this prevalent misconception. His book is a powerful reminder of the fact that, in order to face up to the key civilizational challenges of our time, we need more, rather than less, pan-European – and, indeed, global – co-operation." - Dr Simon Susen, Reader in Sociology, City University London   "The European Union is at a critical stage of its evolution. It is more necessary than ever to understand the nature of the enterprise, to situate it in relation both to European developments generally and to the world at large. William Outhwaite, an established and astute commentator on contemporary Europe, in this succinct and highly readable book, provides all the necessary historical and theoretical tools for the job." - Krishan Kumar, Professor of Sociology, University of Virginia "Refreshingly, this is a book about Europe in its proper sense, which means Europe in more than one sense. The discussion of the European Union as a transnational form of governance that intersects and doubles-up with nation-state governance obviously looms large in William Outhwaite’s narrative of Contemporary Europe. Tellingly, the author’s alternative title for his book was Europe and the European Region in the Age of the European Union. The EU therefore qualifies what Europe is nowadays, but neither defines nor exhausts it. The coherent pursuit of this line of interpretation (not an obvious one in the current panorama of European studies) makes this socio-political-historical account of the European region and of its peoples both interesting and distinctive. In engaging and thoughtful style, Outhwaite offers an interdisciplinary panorama of what Europe has become, particularly as the effect of the end of the Cold War and the process of European integration. The book therefore examines the Europe of the EU and the Europe outside it, well aware that these two areas have been continuously changing in both their borders and self-understandings.