This book explores the intricate connection between the Single Market, characterized by the freedom of movement of goods, services, capital and labor within and across Europe, and the Digital Single Market, the virtual space that promotes freedom of movement of information and data. Both a result and catalyst of the Single Market, the Digital Single Market has become a different space from the Single Market, as the former is based on the application of information and communication technologies (ICTs), while the latter is the result of concerted actions and concessions by Member States in the European Union. The author argues that, similar to the Single Market, the Digital Single Market is an instrument, built by the influence of the Internet, which can provide a new means of socio-economic growth and development in Europe. While sharing many similar characteristics, the Single Market and the Digital Single Market diverge in important aspects, particularly with respect to policy. The research analyzes the interaction between policy actors, their influence in the European decision-making process, and their interests in order to establish a digital policy model, in comparison with market policy. Moreover, this volume considers the implementation process and the success of such initiatives under the current policy model, and puts forward policy recommendations. Ultimately, the author considers the utility of such research on digital policy, considering the current focus on migration, vulnerabilities to internal challenges (e.g., Brexit) and security threats, maintaining that the discussion of digital policies relates to an innovative vision of the European integration process and prospects for its future.

A Brookings Institution Press and Scuola Superiore della Pubblica Amministrazione (SSPA) publication As the European Union tries to increase both its visibility and its impact on the world stage, it cannot overlook the fact that until now enlargement has formed its most successful foreign policy. But is the EU's enlargement strategy still relevant today? Have the economic crisis and the speculative attack on the euro made the enlargement policy more uncertain? In The Frontiers of Europe, an international cast of leading experts and policymakers examine the EU's prospective borders from new perspectives. Indeed, the frontiers of Europe are as much a matter of values and the EU's international credibility as they are a matter of geographic definition. The contributors highlight the considerable yet different interests of the United States and Russia in the EU's enlargement strategy, paying special attention to the likely effects on the future of U.S.-EU relations. This comprehensive volume focuses not only on the European Union's outward expansion, but also on the internal dynamics within EU states and those states' abilities to deal with pressing issues such as terrorism, immigration, internal crime, and energy security. The EU must prioritize stability in both its enlargement strategy and its relations with the broader international neighborhood. The book raises a note of caution, however: as governance challenges increase, the EU's attention increasingly draws inward, thus diminishing its soft power. The Frontiers of Europe is important reading for anyone trying to understand the current geopolitical landscape of Europe and what it means for the rest of the world.

John Pinder and Simon Usherwood explain the EU in plain readable English. They show how and why it has developed, how the institutions work, and what it does - from the single market to the euro, and from agriculture to the environment.

This volume explores the role of territory in the creation, maintenance and extension of a new type of frontier, the electronic frontier, from a social and economic point of view. It departs from the earlier concepts of borders – state, social, economic, ethnic, religious, etc. – to investigate the fluidity of borders and their shift towards an axis-based paradigm within the free-movement European Union. Specifically, the authors will examine a) the metamorphoses of frontiers between the real and the virtual, b) the importance of space (territory) in the new information society and the Digital Single Market and c) the evolution of electronic frontiers in relation to globalization and the network society. What happens when the Internet collides with new social and economic borders? In the past borders have been perceived from only a national state point of view. Now new types of borders or frontiers, such as social, economic, ethnic, religious frontiers, can be discussed. The electronic frontier is the result of a socio-economic analysis of the relationship between the Internet and new frontiers in society and the economy. The European space best represents the fluidity of borders and frontiers within this transformation. Thus, the European Union is the best space to perform research on the electronic frontiers. Borders are permeable or impermeable, agents of inclusiveness or of exclusion. The relations between the real space and the virtual space, but also the influence of the Internet on society, lead us to two other important concepts for our research, namely digital divide and digital inclusion, which define connections or barriers even within the virtual space. This book attempts to answer questions such as: What types of borders have information and communication technologies created in Europe? Which is the foundation of these new frontiers? How does the network society function in Europe and which type of frontier prevails? This title aims to fill the gap in the literature in the relationship between frontiers and information and communication technologies.