Contemporary Europe

"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 ofthe 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. But geopolitics is not the only way in which different Europes are defined in this book. Outhwaite illustrates in rapid prose and colourful figures how the continent has been dramatically reshaped economically, institutionally, politically, territorially, and demographically, in the course of the last few decades. A tour de force that remains critical of the (ir)resistible progress of European integration, and of the place of Europe in the world, but nevertheless confident that there is something valuable in the present European experience. Contemporary Europe is both a lively introduction to European studies, and a shrewd reflection on their multi-faced object of investigation." - Dr Dario Castiglione, Associate Professor of Politics, Exeter University

"Outhwaites Contemporary Europe is a critical diagnosis of one of the most advanced political projects after world War II. The book is one of the two or three great books on Europe. It takes reality as seriously as the dream of European Unification. Insisting in particular that the dream is one of democratic growth, the present reality looks gloomy but not hopeless. There are already unique instituional advances of transnational democracy. Today they are under sharp restriction and hegemonic control, but restrictions and controlls can be overcome, and the present crisis, therefore, is a great but probably the last chance of Europe." - Hauke Brunkhorst, Professor of Sociology and Head of the Institute of Sociology at the University of Flensburg, Germany