The inner workings of the European Union are as much a mystery to those
living within its confines as they are to those of us who reside
elsewhere. The Brussels bureaucracy that sets many of the EU's policies
feels remote to its citizens, yet the influence of its decisions can
extend worldwide and throughout the global marketplace. In this timely
and insightful essay, Hans Magnus Enzensberger blends reportage,
argument, and analysis in order to make sense of the EU's present
political and economic roles and examine the EU's origins and inherent
contradictions. In Enzensberger's view, Europe is involved in a project
without precedent--the first non-violent form of post-democratic
governance, which is trying to abolish the diversity of Europe and
impose a regime that is not accountable to its citizens. Its often
bizarre and arbitrary rules amount to a soft but relentless
guardianship, dictating how half a billion people should live their
lives regardless of their own political opinions and traditions.
Enzensberger here offers a strategy for approaching this modern
monster--at once gentle and giant, friend and foe. Praise for
Enzensberger "How should one cope with Germany? Let's ask Hans Magnus
Enzensberger. . . . One can only marvel at his permanent alertness, his
tone of cold enragement, the dimensions of his hunger for experience,
most of all however, one can only marvel at his sense of important
issues. For 50 years, time and again Enzensberger has posed the right
questions to German society. . . . No one should ever believe
Enzensberger is on his side. Whenever someone makes a clear distinction
between Good and Evil, Enzensberger will jump out of his cover and
shout: It's not that simple."--Florian Illies, Die Zeit
