Why Europe is on the decline--and what can be done about it
Has Europe's extraordinary postwar recovery limped to an end? It would
seem so. The United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Italy, and former Soviet
Bloc countries have experienced ethnic or religious disturbances,
sometimes violent. Greece, Ireland, and Spain are menaced by financial
crises. And the euro is in trouble. In The End of the West, David
Marquand, a former member of the British Parliament, argues that
Europe's problems stem from outdated perceptions of global power, and
calls for a drastic change in European governance to halt the
continent's slide into irrelevance. Taking a searching look at the
continent's governing institutions, history, and current challenges,
Marquand offers a disturbing diagnosis of Europe's ills to point the way
toward a better future.
Exploring the baffling contrast between postwar success and current
failures, Marquand examines the rebirth of ethnic communities from
Catalonia to Flanders, the rise of xenophobic populism, the democratic
deficit that stymies EU governance, and the thorny questions of where
Europe's borders end and what it means to be European. Marquand contends
that as China, India, and other nations rise, Europe must abandon
ancient notions of an enlightened West and a backward East. He calls for
Europe's leaders and citizens to confront the painful issues of
ethnicity, integration, and economic cohesion, and to build a democratic
and federal structure.
A wake-up call to those who cling to ideas of a triumphalist Europe, The
End of the West shows that the continent must draw on all its reserves
of intellectual and political creativity to thrive in an increasingly
turbulent world, where the very language of "East" and "West" has been
emptied of meaning. In a new preface, Marquand analyzes the current
Eurozone crisis--arguing that it was inevitable due to the absurdity of
combining monetary union with fiscal disunion--and raises some of the
questions Europe will have to face in its recovery.
