The cutting-edge contributions to this book analyse different facets of the European Union (EU): closer integration among the member states, policymaking within a ‘normal’ political system, and the implications of European integration for its member states. This book also considers whether the challenges currently confronting the EU – the lingering Eurozone debt crises, the migrant/refugee crisis, the British decision to leave the EU, and terrorist attacks in Belgium, France and Germany – mark an inflection point for the Union and for the study of the EU. For the first time, ‘less Europe’, rather than closer integration, has emerged as a serious option in response to crisis. This possibility reignites questions of (dis)integration and calls into question the assumption of the EU as a ‘normal’ political system. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.

The ‘Troika’ is a word that is scorched into the narrative of the EU’s banking and economic crisis – a triumvirate constituted by the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund. The modus operandi of the Troika is defined by the authors of this book as ‘Troikanomics’. Ostensibly, the role of the Troika was to develop, coordinate and oversee the provision of conditional funding to support national governments in restructuring their economies. In fact, their power and influence extended far more widely. They enforced an unprecedentedly severe austerity programme of fiscal and structural adjustment through oppressive political oversight. Their practical impact was to impose on debtor countries in the EU periphery the single greatest economic and social dislocation in Europe’s recent history, thus corroding their autonomous capacities and enfeebling their national sovereignty. The Troika’s word was law in those countries where its writ ran – Greece, Ireland, Cyprus, and to a more limited extent, Spain. It was answerable only to a trio of unelected organisations, far removed from the consequences of its policies on the lives of citizens. Widespread socio-political reaction to Troikanomics gave shape to the anti-austerity movement across the EU, characterised by the centre as ‘Populism’. This book provides a timely response to the revisionist argument that there is no longer a ‘crisis’ in Europe. In their innovative analysis, the authors argue that Troikanomics is a manifestation of a deeper existential crisis within the EU that encompasses the centralisation of power, Brexit, Europe’s ominous militarisation and the progressive abandonment of its foundational values.

Education, employment policy, and pensions are inextricably linked and critical to any sort of business or economic revival, let alone success, and all three are addressed in Education and Employment in the European Union. In the first part of this meticulously researched and highly informative book, Dimitris Chorafas argues that European educational standards, from primary schools through to universities, leave much to be desired. The author then turns to employment. Already affected by problems with education, employment is fettered by structural issues, ranging from inflexible labour laws to heavy social costs. Here, the author suggests what might be done to get employment moving again in difficult economic times. Employment and pensions work in synergy. In the final part, Chorafas examines the implications of and future for pension provision, taking a polyvalent approach which embraces state pensions, company pensions and the workings of pension funds - as well as healthcare issues and the longevity risk. The evidenced analysis of the three interlinked policy areas in this book identifies the issues and the relationships between them. The findings and suggestions will be important to business practitioners, business educators, government authorities, policy makers, consultancies and others either within or wishing to learn lessons from the European Union.

This book assesses the many changes that have occurred within the European Parliament and in its external relations since the Lisbon treaty (2009) and the last European elections (2014). It is undoubtedly the institution that has evolved the most since the 1950s. Despite the many crises experienced by European integration in the last years, the Parliament is still undergoing important changes in its formal competences, its influence on policy-making, its relations with other EU institutions, its internal organisation and its internal political dynamics. Every contribution deals with the most recent aspects of these evolutions and addresses overlooked topics, providing an overview of the current state of play which challenges the mainstream intergovernmental approach of the EU. This project results from research conducted at the Department of European Political and Governance Studies of the College of Europe. Individual research of several policy analysts of the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) have contributed to this endeavour.

This book on historical anthropology remaps the Mediterranean by reframing classical themes from early Mediterraneanist anthropology. This edited volume showcases how anthropology can contribute to an understanding of ongoing transnational dynamics and the new wave of scholarship on the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean is back as a locus of international anxiety and academic concern. It has reemerged in the international news cycle as a space of desperate crossings and tragic endings, as the site in which a refugee crisis rivalling that of the Second World War is playing out in real time for a global viewing public. The scale of the crisis has called into question Europe’s humanitarian principles and internal political union, making the Mediterranean into a mirror for long-standing tensions between norms of universalism and demands for national security. These captivating events have further raised the tide of scholars’ interest in the Mediterranean. How should ethnographers contribute to the new wave of scholarship on the Mediterranean? To what extent does the Mediterranean offer alternative forms of political relatedness to those construed from within Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East? In this volume, we reframe classical themes from early iterations of Mediterranean anthropology to address these questions in our examinations of changing dynamics across land and sea borders, bringing ethnography back to the study of the Mediterranean, and the Mediterranean – with its Mediterraneanism – back to ethnography. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, History and Anthropology.

A sweeping account of the global rise of English and the high-stakes politics of languageSpoken by a quarter of the world's population, English is today's lingua franca- - its common tongue. The language of business, popular media, and international politics, English has become commodified for its economic value and increasingly detached from any particular nation. This meteoric "riseof English" has many obvious benefits to communication. Tourists can travel abroad with greater ease. Political leaders can directly engage their counterparts. Researchers can collaborate with foreign colleagues. Business interests can flourish in the global economy.But the rise of English has very real downsides as well. In Europe, imperatives of political integration and job mobility compete with pride in national language and heritage. In the United States and England, English isolates us from the cultural and economic benefits of speaking other languages.And in countries like India, South Africa, Morocco, and Rwanda, it has stratified society along lines of English proficiency.In The Rise of English, Rosemary Salomone offers a commanding view of the unprecedented spread of English and the far-reaching effects it has on global and local politics, economics, media, education, and business. From the inner workings of the European Union to linguistic battles over influence inAfrica, Salomone draws on a wealth of research to tell the complex story of English - and, ultimately, to argue for English not as a force for domination but as a core component of multilingualism and the transcendence of linguistic and cultural borders.

Scholars and policymakers in EU foreign policy lament the EU's inability to assert itself on the world stage. This book explains this weakness by arguing that EU foreign policy is burdened by various internal functions, and systemizes the analysis of internal functionality, pushing the study beyond the concern with effectiveness.