The vision of the original arhitects of the European Community was to create a Europe of economic prosperity and social harmony. Economic integration has come ever closer, but sustained growth and a reduction in social disparities seen as far away as ever. This book examines the prospects for the real cohesion in Europe and find that, far from promroting it, many of the Community's current policies are divisive. The neo-liberal philosophy at the moment is producing policies which favour relatively wealthy regions and major corporations at the expense of less favoured regions and peoples.

“We have to abandon liberal methods and principles of organizing a society. The new state that we are building is an illiberal state, a non-liberal state”, Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban famously said in 2014, exemplifying a broader trend taking place in Central Europe. Why would the countries that were praised as democratization and Europeanization success stories take an illiberal turn? This volume explores changing values and attitudes to explain events that took place in the aftermath of the financial and migration crisis in six Central European countries: Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

The European Union is the first full-length treatment of European integration from a sociological perspective. It redirects the core concerns of political sociology away from nationally bounded societies towards a "sociology beyond societies," capable of making a valuable contribution to thinking about the nature and problems of the European Union. Within this broad objective the book concerns itself with such key issues as the relation between the EU and globalization, the nature of the EU state, and the question of whether a European society can be said to exist. Students, scholars, and sociologists interested in the history, development, and legacies of the European Union will find this to be a unique and informative text.

A major comparative study of the fast developing theme of social exclusion, this book looks at the phenomenon's causes, effects and at the ways in which it might be combatted.

European integration has had a profound impact on the politics of Southern Europe, a region that was initially at the margin of the decision-making processes of the European Union, but is gradually becoming more and more influential. This volume offers a comparative overview of modern politics in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece, focusing in particular on the process of integration of these countries into the European Union and on the impact of European public policy. The author analyzes the development of Southern European political systems, from the establishment of democratic governments to the most recent political events, looking at each individual system and finding patterns, similarities of development, as well as differences between them. Among the topics examined are the building of institutions, the parties and party systems, foreign policies, the political culture of each country, and the recent efforts towards the creation of a space of security and peace in the Mediterranean.

The European political economy: policy and theory, provides students, researchers and policy makers with a profound understanding of the theory and policy of the EU. The book covers in a comprehensive way the key issue areas of the European Union activity and it includes an analysis of all the important current developments in Europe such as the Brexit, the European Union sovereign debt crisis, the European economic governance problems and the macroeconomic adjustment challenges within Eurozone. The book also includes critical resources for readers and students such as review questions, appendixes, references and further reading lists. More specifically, the textbook explains thoroughly the institutional, economic and policy characteristics of the fundamental issue areas of European economy. It outlines the institutions and mechanisms of European union/Eurozone, the common agricultural, regional and trade policies, the impact of the single market and the single currency on European economy, the enlargement process and the key questions on the European macroeconomic adjustment process. In each chapter the book explains not only what is taking place in European economy but also which the feasible options of the European policy agenda are. The textbook enables readers to apply conceptual and theoretical knowledge to economic and political processes of European integration.

This book examines the geography of the transition economies that were not formerly part of the Soviet Union. The main themes of the transition from communism to market capitalism are outlined and variations discussed.

Europe is a word that is almost daily on our lips. But how far do we have to go back in order to find the origins of its name? The first part of this beautifully illustrated book traces the geographical and mythological basis of Europe's name. Who came up with the idea to distinguish the world in continents with proper names? The search will bring the reader back to the early history of mankind. How did the ancient Egyptians see the world and populations around them? Where did the Hebrews get the idea to split the world in three? And what was the world-picture in ancient Greece, laid down in geographic treatises and fragments? Where did the name 'Europe' originate from? Could it be from a person, either mortal or divine? In ancient Greek literature the name 'Europa' appears quite frequently for Greek goddesses and Greek women. Strangely enough, the best known Europa myth concerns a Phoenician princess, loved by the Greek god Zeus. Many mythographs doubt the Asian descent of the Phoenician Europa. Is her real origin to be located on mainland Greece? How can the contradicting Greek myths be interpreted, and was the name universally accepted as the name for the continent? In the second part of this book, the author tells the amazing story of how the Arts have treated the Europa myths for almost three millennia. He shows the extraordinary influence of the personification of the geographic continent Europe on literature, music, sculpture, painting, tapestry and other applied arts. All this clearly demonstrates the vivid interest in Europe for the subject throughout the ages and illustrates, according to Karel van Miert in his Foreword, our common European culture.

This collection of essays examines the legal regime in the post-Cold War era which has developed in response to the demands of ethnic, racial & religious groups in Europe. In essence this volume seeks to examine the 'old' problem of national minorities in the 'new' Europe. The essays examine the response of the main institutions within Europe (i.e. the Council of Europe, OSCE & European Union), the increasing recourse of states to bilateral arrangements, the developing content of minority rights, the challenges posed by state-building & the resolution of conflicts involving national minorities. Particular issues considered include the minorities situation in the Former Yugoslavia, the situation in Ukraine (in particular in Crimea), the position of the minority Catholic population in Northern Ireland, as well as developments in the context of autonomous regimes & power-sharing arrangements. At the end of the book, a collection of documents, which supplement these chapters & are relevant to minority rights in the 'New' Europe, can be found. Whilst the book's editors are both legal academics from the United Kingdom, the contributors' backgrounds are diverse & varied, originating from a number of different countries, with expertise in a wide variety of areas.

Myths are a major, universal sociological mechanism which is still rather poorly understood Demonstrates the relevance and the potential of myths as a research area Provides a timely shift in the usual focus of national studies, which typically centers on ethnicity, immigration, integration, citizenship, cultural diversity and nationalism Demonstrates the nature and the functioning of myths in contemporary societies, as a nexus of meanings that feed identities, memory and utopias Contributions from international authors