The book analyzes some of the key issues confronted by European policy makers. These issues include effective multilateralism; common foreign and security policy; multiculturalism; climate change; security challenges; rise of populism; Brexit; the Ukrainian crisis; relations with Russia; standoff in Catalonia; as well as migration and the refugee crisis. The book is a unique attempt to understand these issues from an outside perspective by established scholars of European Studies in India.

This book provides the first comprehensive analyses of the challenges all European welfare systems have been facing since 2007, combining in-depth country-based studies and comparative chapters. It focuses on: 1) the economic and financial crisis, 2) demographic change, and 3) the balance between avoiding risks and opening up opportunities in social policy. The results show that European welfare systems tend to face the same challenges in different ways and that also their responses to those challenges differ considerably. Although the EU also plays a part in shaping national welfare systems, it becomes evident that European welfare systems are by no means converging: in terms of social policy, national diversity within Europe is still a major factor that will shape future developments in European welfare systems.

Despite all efforts to create a political union capable of improving European citizens’ quality of life, there are several barriers to the European Union’s (EU) expansion to the Balkan Region. The EU enlargement and expansion to the Balkan Region is one of the Union’s greatest challenges and political objectives in recent years. In the turmoil of economic, social, and sanitarian crises, where is the space to debate the enlargement of the EU? Challenges and Barriers to the European Union Expansion to the Balkan Region presents the EU’s structure, the process of enlargement, and the challenges related to the Balkan region. This book addresses critical issues and challenges in the EU and the emerging trends for the EU’s future. Covering topics such as enlargement policy, integration, NATO, and political challenges, this book is a valuable resource for post-grad students of political science and international affairs, faculty of higher education, researchers, academicians, politicians, world leaders, and policymakers.

This edited volume explores the opportunities and challenges facing the European Union in the future from different disciplines and assesses the EU’s prospects across various policy areas. Using the European Commission’s 2017 White Paper presenting five different scenarios for the future of Europe to 2050 as an organising framework for analysis and debate, the volume reflects upon the drivers of the EU’s future, including its changing place in an evolving world, a transformed economy and society, heightened threats and concerns about security and borders, and questions of trust and legitimacy. The concluding chapter summarises and compares the findings to determine which of the scenarios is the most instructive to understand and plan European Futures to 2050, and beyond. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of European integration, EU politics/studies, and more broadly international relations, as well as European policy-makers.

In the light of Brexit, the migration crisis, and growing scepticism regarding the European integration process, this book offers a comprehensive overview of the most pressing problems facing the European Union in the 21st century. Written by experts from various disciplines, the contributions cover a wide range of economic, legal, social and political challenges, including populism, migration, Brexit, and EU defence, foreign policy and enlargements. Each paper includes a historical account, insights into the problems and challenges confronting the EU, and an assessment of the institutions and policy instruments applied by the EU in response. Discussing each of the problems as part of a process – including the historical roots, current situation and potential solutions – the book allows readers to gain an understanding of the European Union as a living project.

This edited collection highlights the different meanings that have been attached to the notion of energy security and how it is taken to refer to different objects. Official policy definitions of energy security are broadly similar across countries and emphasize the reliability and affordability of access to sufficient energy resources for a community to uphold its normal economic and social functions. However, perceptions of energy security vary between states causing different actions to be taken, both in international relations and in domestic politics. Energy Security in Europe moves the policy debates on energy security beyond a consideration of its seemingly objective nature. It also provides a series of contributions that shed light on the conditions under which similar material factors are met with very different energy security policies and divergent discourses across Europe. Furthermore, it problematizes established notions prevalent in energy security studies, such as whether energy security is ‘geopolitical’, and an element of high politics, or purely ‘economic’, and should be left for the markets to regulate. This book will be of particular relevance to students and academics in the fields of energy studies and political science seeking to understand the divergence in perspectives and understandings of energy security challenges between EU member states and in multilateral relationships between the EU as a whole.

The European integration project currently faces profound political, economic, legal, and societal challenges. These challenges seem increasingly to overburden the European Union as well as the cohesion among the Member States, and therefore pose a serious threat to the integration project. The EU faces a major task in coping with this situation and it is one that calls for new approaches and ideas This book addresses the major challenges confronting the EU, analyses the consequences for the integration project, and develops fresh perspectives on the EU’s future prospects for coping with the most debated, current and upcoming issues, such as the rise of Euroscepticism or the contested idea of an ‘ever-closer union’. Renowned experts in European Studies from the fields of political science, law, economics and sociology provide an interdisciplinary perspective on the different dimensions of the EU’s crisis-laden situation and question whether the EU’s existing problem-solving mechanisms and methods are sufficient to address the imminent tasks. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of EU Politics, European Politics, European Governance, and more broadly European law, history and the wider social sciences.