The enlarged European Union: Diversity and adaptation

Book abstract:

The forthcoming expansion of the European Union into Eastern Europe will make for a much more diverse Community and presents challenges on several fronts ranging through stages of democratic development, economic performance, social culture and the evolution of legal and administrative structures. Can such diversity coexist with the accelerating moves towards even more integration? Will the Member States from the former Soviet bloc easily see their newfound nationhood absorbed in the integration process? This book explores all these potential differences and suggests that the map of divergence and convergence in the future EU will be very complex and increasingly fluid; the old East-West divides will not be readily recognisable. Eight essays follow on from the editors' introduction and they address the challenges mentioned above and other related issues. The increased diversity is generally welcomed and seen as a positive influence on European development but not without some caveats about the potential threats posed towards the process of European integration.

The work will interest students, scholars, researchers and policy makers in the fields of European Studies and Political Sciences.

Peter Mair is Professor of Comparative Politics at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Jan Zielonka is Professor of Political Science at the European University Institute in Florence.