Governing the EU in an Age of Division

Few international organizations embody the idea of historical progress as strongly as the European Union (EU). This book shows how Europe’s heterogeneity makes the EU unsuitable to be a vehicle of progress and political unity and makes the case for a more restrained, polycentric approach towards European integration.

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Few international organizations embody the idea of historical progress as strongly as the European Union (EU). This book addresses the main shortcoming of treating EU as a vehicle of progress and political unity between European countries: the disregard of such an approach for the underlying diversity of the European continent.

Critically examining the meta-ideology underpinning European integration, the author studies the implications of Europe’s heterogeneity, disagreements over European policies, and of pluralism of values for the EU’s governance. The book revisits legacies of post-communist transitions and the role played by international economic and political integration in Eastern Europe – as well as the implications of the EU’s enlargements for the EU’s governance. The result is a novel, polycentric perspective on the EU’s governance.



Policy practitioners, commentators, and other opinion leaders as well as academics and students interested in applied political economy and European studies will value this extensive exploration of Governing the EU in an Age of Division.