With the European Union ́s upcoming eastern enlargement, Europe is confronted with the necessity of creating security and stability beyond the EU borders in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. This task includes not only numerous risks but also opportunities to face the challenges of the 21st century. This volume provides policy-oriented recommendations and differentiated insider knowledge about the regional situation in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus. Authors from the region analyze policies by state and by key issues such as energy, transportation, the future of Kaliningrad or the regional hot spot in Trandniestria. A concept for a "Multi-Layered Europe" is developed for the strategic dilemmas concerning the current debate on "WIder Europe." The unique alliance between analytical output and strategic thinking makes the book valuable for the academic community and for persons responsible for Europe ́s future.

With the European Union ́s upcoming eastern enlargement, Europe is confronted with the necessity of creating security and stability beyond the EU borders in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. This task includes not only numerous risks but also opportunities to face the challenges of the 21st century. This volume provides policy-oriented recommendations and differentiated assessments for all nine states and entities of the region, as well as for the policy areas of governance, economy and security. The authors explore the unintended consequences and side-effects of massive support for reforms and external influence on weak states. A concept for a "Mulit-Layered Europe" is developed for the strategic dilemmas concerning the current debate on "Wilder Europe". The unique alliance between analytical output and strategic thinking makes the book valuable for the academic community and for persons responsible for Europe ́s future. The volume is one of two from a joint project on "Security in Europa and beyond its borders" of the Bertelsmann Foundation in Guetersloh and the Center for Applied Policy Research in Munich.

In this book, the ERECO-PGV[1] network wishes to make an overview of the cooperation implemented by and in the European Union and to describe the concrete forms they have taken. The issue is to analyze the internal European cooperation between economic actors, politicians, and EU citizens at different levels, but also to focus attention on the external cooperation (neighborhood policies, external policies, and collaborations with international institutions: NATO, OECD, WTO, etc.). Carrying uncompromising attention on this issue means rethinking the European project in light of today's challenges. From the very beginning, the EU was based on and called for forms of multinational cooperation, bilateral (internal and external) at different levels, involving economic actors, public actors, local authorities, and civil society. The frameworks for this cooperation as well as for the successive enlargements of the EU were drawn up in the context of European negotiations, in particular during discussions on the European Treaties. European values, standards, and rules are embodied in the texts of agreements, resolutions, and European directives and Treaties signed by all member countries. They establish the functioning of European institutions and the framework of democratic life in Europe. The emergence of current crises (Brexit, COVID-19, migration crisis, non-respect of rule of law rules, refusal of certain member countries to apply the European Charter of Human Rights, etc.) is questioning the project of the European Union and introduced the challenges which should be overcome by the proposal of the new project able to face the internal complexity of the Union and to answer to the pressure of a conflicting international context. What remains of the European ideal affirmed in the treaties of 1957, 1992, and 2007? How to "re-enchant" the common project? Yet, the European Union remains attractive to new candidate countries. How do they read the integration conditions into the EU with regard to their own projects?

How have national identities changed, developed and reacted in the wake of transition from communism to democracy in Central and Eastern Europe? Central and Eastern Europe After Transition defines and examines new autonomous differences adopted at the state and the supranational level in the post-transitional phase of the post-Communist area, and considers their impact on constitutions, democracy and legal culture. With representative contributions from older and newer EU members, the book provides a broad set of cultural points for reference. Its comparative and interdisciplinary approach includes a useful selection of bibliographical resources specifically devoted to the Central Eastern European countries' transitions.

The breaking up of Yugoslavia hasn't been an efficient clean process to say the least. This book presents a sober comparative analysis of the economic development of the newly formed states since the break up.

Technology and the information revolution changed the balance of power and altered and corroded the state's authority and strengthened nonstate actors, in particular, transnational crime and terrorist organizations. This book talks about the solution of at least some of the problems and invisible threats that challenge our societies and security.

The book analyzes the twenty years of economic transition from socialism to capitalism in Serbia. It offers a comprehensive evaluation of the achievements and failures of the transition, and explains why its course has been more complex and unique than elsewhere in the former socialist world.