The Meaning of Europe: Geography and Geopolitics

Charting the changing idea of Europe from the Renaissance to the present day, this book provides a critical genealogy of the European project over several centuries, with particular attention to the last hundred years. It takes as its principal theme the continuing tension between two rival geopolitical tendencies--the nationalist forces of disintegration and localism on the one hand, and the impulse towards greater integration, cooperation on the other. This accessible study provides a thorough look at the on-going debate about the meaning and extent of the internal geopolitical structure of Europe, as it considers what Europe has meant in the past and what it might mean in the future.