Bringing together all of Stanley Hoffmann's significant essays on the development and difficulties of European integration, this collection highlights the intractability of the divisions that plagued the European Union from its very beginning. These essays provide a view of evolution and change as well as an examination of the crises and turning points in the history of European integration.

Bringing together all of Stanley Hoffmann's significant essays on the development and difficulties of European integration, this collection highlights the intractability of the divisions that plagued the European Union from its very beginning. Just as the process of integration has displayed the same ambiguities, hesitations, and failings over the

Bringing together all of Stanley Hoffmann's significant essays on the development and difficulties of European integration, this collection highlights the intractability of the divisions that plagued the European Union from its very beginning. Just as the process of integration has displayed the same ambiguities, hesitations, and failings over the

Despite an increasing number of EU and government initiatives in their favor, the situation of Roma in Europe has only worsened. This book explores the many miscalculations, misconceptions, and blunders that have led to this failure. Looking at Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Romania, Rostas shows how policy makers in each country have mishandled already confused EU policy, from failing to define “Roma” to not having a way to evaluate their own progress. Rostas further argues that the alleged successes of these policies were actually the product of poor information and sometimes outright deception. Examining perennial topics among Roma like school segregation and political representation, the author shows how often the so-called success of Roma policies can be fallacious and simply pave the way for further problems. Rostas maintains that when the EU’s Framework for Roma program comes to an end in 2020, there must be a fundamental shift in policy for there to be any real improvement for Roma. Policy makers will have to address Roma issues not only in terms of poverty and social exclusion but also in terms of the particular nature of Romani ethnic identity. This shift requires reconceiving Roma as a “politically insular minority” and rearranging the power dynamics of local government to ensure that when the new era of Roma policy begins Roma themselves will have a voice in its formulation.

One of the most influential works of this century, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays is a crucial exposition of existentialist thought. Influenced by works such as Don Juan and the novels of Kafka, these essays begin with a meditation on suicide; the question of living or not living in a universe devoid of order or meaning. With lyric eloquence, Albert Camus brilliantly posits a way out of despair, reaffirming the value of personal existence, and the possibility of life lived with dignity and authenticity.

The European Union's foreign policy is full of paradoxes. The Union aspires to be a powerful international actor without becoming a super-state. It hopes to prevent and manage conflicts, but refrains from acquiring the military means to do so. It embarks on the project of widening its borders, but continues its deepening project which makes the entrance hurdles for applicant countries ever higher. It wishes to maintain strong transatlantic links, but continues to build institutions that make the EU more independent from - if not competitive with - the United States. In this stimulating book, distinguished European and American intellectuals offer solutions to imperative but unanswered questions: How can the Union's enormous normative `power of attraction' combined with its operational weakness be explained? Can the Union remain a `civilian power' when coping with an `uncivilized' world? Can a European foreign policy get off the ground without prior emergence of a European demos? Are national policies within the Union increasingly convergent or divergent? And how can the Union's international performance be assessed?