Jan Zielonka

This book offers a strikingly new perspective on EU enlargement. Basing his findings on substantial empirical evidence, Zielonka presents a carefully argued account of the kind of political entity the European Union is becoming, with particular reference to recent enlargement.

The Nature of the Enlarged European Union

Europe as Empire

The European Union is in crisis. Crippled by economic problems, political brinkmanship, and institutional rigidity, the EU faces an increasingly uncertain future. In this compelling essay, leading scholar of European politics, Jan Zielonka argues that although the EU will only survive in modest form - deprived of many real powers - Europe as an integrated entity will grow stronger. Integration, he contends, will continue apace because of European states’ profound economic interdependence, historic ties and the need for political pragmatism. A revitalized Europe led by major cities, regions and powerful NGOs will emerge in which a new type of continental solidarity can flourish. The EU may well be doomed, but Europe certainly is not.

Is the EU Doomed

Now, more than ever in our life-time, we wonder what is going on in Europe? Terrorism, Brexit, Crimea, and Donbas, a failed coup d'etat in Turkey, economic austerity; is there an end to this series of deeply troubling events? Is there a link between them? Where is Europe heading? How do we reverse the trajectory of history and give citizens a sense of security and hope for a better future?The book argues that we are witnessing a movement thatis trying to get rid of the liberal Europe established by the 1989 revolutions. We are facing a counter-revolution. It is not just the EU under attack but also other symbols of the current order:liberal democracy and neo-liberal economics, migration and a multicultural society, historical 'truths' and political correctness, moderate political parties and main-stream media, cultural tolerance, and religious neutrality. Counter-Revolution is written in the form of a letter to the late European guru Ralf Dahrendorf. Several months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Dahrendorf wrote a book fashioned on Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution inFrance. Like Burke, he chose to put his analysis in the form of a letter, reflecting on the implications of the turbulent period around 1989. Jan Zielonka similarly offers reflections on the implications of what is anequally turbulent and important period currently facing Europe, and proposes a way forward.

Liberal Europe in Retreat

Counter-Revolution

This book analyses the relationship between the media and politics in new democracies in Europe and other parts of the world. It does so from both theoretical and empirical angles. How is power being mediated in new democracies? Can media function independently in the unstable and polarised political environment experienced after the fall of autocracy? Do major shifts in economic and ownership structures help or hinder the quality of the media? How much can new media laws alter old journalistic habits and political cultures? And how do new technologies impact the media and democracy? The book examines these questions, drawing on a vast set of data assembled by a large international project. Media and Politics in New Democracies focuses chiefly on new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe, but chapters analysing new democracies in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia are also included. These new democracies represent a variety of what sociologists call 'glocalism': homogenisation and heterogenisation coexist, revealing hybrid models and multiple modernities. It is local culture that assigns meaning to global and regional influences. 'Ideal' liberal models and best practices are being promoted and aspired to, but these models and practices are often being adopted in opaque ways generating results opposite to those intended. The book finds many new democracies to be fragile if not deficient, and tries to show what is really going on in these countries, how they compare to each other, and what they can learn from each other.

Europe in a Comparative Perspective

Media and Politics in New Democracies

The author argues that mainstream thinking about European integration is based on mistaken statistical assumptions and suggests more effective and legitimate ways of governing Europe than through adoption of a European constitution, creation of a European army or the introduction of a European social model.

A timely and compelling argument for a revitalized and restructured global politics The future seems increasingly uncertain. Our democracies are failing to prevent financial crises, energy shortages, climate change, and war—so how can we look to the future with confidence? Jan Zielonka argues that it is democracy’s shortsightedness that makes politics stumble in our increasingly connected world. With our governments still confined to the borders of nation-states, defending the short-term interests of present-day voters, the consequences for future generations are dire. In this incisive account, Zielonka makes a bold case for a new politics of time and space. He considers how democracy should adjust to the world of high speed, and he questions our everyday experiences as citizens: Is it acceptable for authorities and firms to monitor our whereabouts? Why is the distribution of time and space so unequal? And, most crucially, can we construct a new system of governance that will allow us to plan ahead with certainty?

And How to Reclaim It

The Lost Future

Alex Pravda

This is the second volume in a two-volume series of books on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe. The first volume focused on the issue of institutional engineering. This second volume analyses the external parameters of democratic consolidation in thirteen Eastern European countries: how different international actors and various economic, cultural and security types of transnational pressures have shaped democratic politics in the region. The aim is to contrast a set of democracy theories with empirical evidence accumulated in Eastern Europe over the last ten years. The volume tries to avoid complex debates about definitions, methods and the uses and misuses of comparative research. Instead it seeks to establish what has really happened in the region, and which of the existing theories are helpful in explaining these developments. The volume is divided into two parts. The first part presents a conceptual and comparative frame of analysis, the second consists of detailed studies of individual countries undergoing democratic consolidation. Case study chapters deal with the following countries: Estonia and Latvia, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia, the states of former Yugoslavia, Belarus and Ukraine, and finally Russia. The concluding chapter identifies a set of variables responsible for the enormous impact of external factors on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe. It conceptualises the interplay of internal and external factors impinging upon democracy, and shows the interplay of different positive and negative types of external pressures. It also evaluates the conscious Western effort to craft or engineer democracy in Eastern Europe.

Democratic Consolidation in Eastern Europe: Volume 2: International and Transnational Factors

Peter Mair

Focusing upon the emerging patterns of unity and diversity in the enlarged European Union, this study explores enlargement from the East and the impact this will have on the future identity of Europe.

Unity and Diversity

The Enlarged European Union

Addresses paradoxes in the EU's foreign policy, and asks questions such as: how can the European Union's "power of attraction", combined with its operational weakness, be explained?; and can the EU remain a "civilian power" when coping with an "uncivilized" world?

Jan Zielonka

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