Analysis and Visions for Europe

This book provides reflections on and visions of the European Union and its future. The latter is a central concern that threads through all chapters and contributions, thereby taking a critical stance on conventional theories and main stream views of European integration. Different developmental scenarios and dimensions of the EU project are discussed. The authors approach the question of «future» from a variety of perspectives and theoretical convictions. Accordingly, the results portray a number of possibilities of how Europe could look in two or three decades, depending on the underlying assumptions of the different analysis. The European Union as seen through this book is not an entity carved in stone, but a contingent political process with open – although not random – outcomes.

Josef Langer is Professor of Sociology at the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt (Austria). He has held functions in the International Sociological Association (ISA) and in the Austrian Sociological Association and acted as consultant for research units and governmental institutions. He was visiting professor at universities in Finland, India, Italy, Japan, the Czech Republic and the USA. His current fields of research include European transformation, knowledge society and cross-cultural management with numerous publications in German, English, Japanese, Italian, Romanian and Russian.

Contents: Josef Langer: European Union Post-Lisbon Perspectives – Józef Ni?nik: Theories of Integration and the Future of the European Union – Josef Langer: Europe 2030: Anticipating Nation, Border and Society – Hans-Peter Meier-Dallach: The European Union Hitting Europe’s Birds: The Future of Landscapes – Thomas Döring/Eithne Knappitsch/Birgit Aigner: Is the European Union Doing the Right Things? – Lojze So?an: The Role of Institutional Infrastructure in the Future of Europe – Vittorio Olgiati: On the Women Lawyers’ Voice in Europe: Scenarios for a Legal Education Agenda – Franc Mali: The European Research Space – Vlado Sušac/Tomislav Krpan: European Language Policy Between Theory and Practice – Reis Mulita: Europe: Between Diminishing Political Borders and New Social Borders – Nuri Ali Tahir: After Turkey’s Full Membership - The Role of the European Union as an Actor to Democratize its New Neighbourhood – Anna Mattila: Debate Europe - Analysis of an Online Forum – Milan Jazbec: The European Union: An Empire in Search of a Joke. Inhaltsverzeichnis