The idea of European unity, which the Nordic states have historically resisted, has recently become the foremost concern of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Finland. Christine Ingebritsen provides a timely analysis of Nordic economic and security policies in the wake of the vast transformation of regional politics between 1985 and 1995. The Nordic States and European Unity addresses two central questions: Why did all five Nordic states trade autonomy for integration after 1985? And why do some follow the British pattern, resisting supranationalism, while others prefer the German strategy of embedding their policies in a common European project?Through extensive interviews with representatives of trade unions, government ministries, parliamentary committees, social movements, and military and industrial organizations, Ingebritsen charts adjustments to the idea of a regional system of governance. She highlights crucial differences among these nations as they seek to protect their borders against new security threats. In particular, Ingebritsen shows how the political influence of leading sectors affects each state's capacity to pursue an integrationist policy. Economic sectors are not uniformly affected by European policy coordination, and the experience of the Nordic states demonstrates this difference. Her work shifts the focus of political economics away from enduring, domestic institutions toward an understanding of institutions as sectoral and transnational.

This book explores how the European Union has been responding to the challenge of diversity. In doing so, it considers the EU as a complex polity that has found novel ways for accommodating diversity. Much of the literature on the EU seeks to identify it as a unique case of cooperation between states that moves past classic international cooperation. This volume argues that in order to understand the EU’s effort in managing the diversity among its members and citizens it is more effective to look at the EU as a state. While acknowledging that the EU lacks key aspects of statehood, the authors show that looking at the EU efforts to balance diversity and unity through the lens of state policy is a fruitful way to understand the Union. Instead of conceptualising the EU as being incomparable and unique which is neither an international organisation nor a state, the book argues that EU can be understood as a polity that shares many approaches and strategies with complex and diverse states. As such, its effort to build political structures to accommodate diversity offers lessons to other such polities. The experience of the EU contributes to the understanding of how states and other polities can respond to challenges of diversity, including both the diversity of constituent units or of sub-national groups and identities.

The book addresses contemporary developments in European identity politics as part of a larger historical trajectory of a common European identity based on the idea of 'solidarity.' The authors explain the special sense in which Europeans perceive their obligations to their less fortunate compatriots, to the new East European members, and to the world at large. An understanding of this notion of 'solidarity' is critical to understanding the specific European commitment to social justice and equality. The specificity of this term helps to distinguish between what the Germans call "social state" from the Anglo-Saxon, and particularly American, political and social system focused on capitalism and economic liberalism. This collection is the result of the work of an extremely distinguished group of scholars and politicians, invited by the previous President of the European Union, Romano Prodi, to reflect on some of the most important subjects affecting the future of Europe.

The establishment of the European union was the culmination of over ninety year's work to integrate the continent. Initially inspired by President Woodrow Wilson's 'fourteen points' following the first world war, the movement showed promise in the 1920's before economic and political discord led to the second work war. The groundbreaking formation of the European coal and steel community and the European Economic Community (EEC) in the 1950's provided the blueprint for unification efforts to follow. Attempts to expand the EEC in the 1960's were rebuffed by french President Charles De Gaulle, while the oil crisis of the 1970's fed severe economic instability across Europe. The economic boom of the mid-1980's, followed by the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, provided the environment for increased economic and political cooperation across the continent, which resulted in the establishment of the European Union in the 1990's. During this process, the United States abandoned its isolationist tendencies and provided strong support for the integration movement. Whether the EU becomes a 'United States of Europe' or a 'United Europe of States', the fundamental relationship between Europe and America remains a strong and crucial atlantic alliance.

The first major study of Atlantic political relations since World War 2 that uses a comparative perspective to analyze U.S. foreign policy and U.S.-European relations in the context of a Western Europe attempting to speak with one voice. The book examines U.S. policy toward European unity and the evolution of a West European pillar in foreign policy and defence, contrasts U.S. and European approaches toward specific global issues, and considers Atlantic relations in light of the dramatic European upheavals in 1989-90.