Abstract

While the major trends in European integration have been well researched and constitute key elements of narratives about its value and purpose, the crises of integration and their effects have not yet attracted sufficient attention. This volume, with original contributions by leading German scholars, suggests that crises of integration should be seen as engines of progress throughout the history of European integration rather than as expressions of failure and regression, a widely held assumption. It therefore throws new light on the current crises in European integration and provides a fascinating panorama of how challenges and responses were guiding the process during its first five decades.

Ludger Kühnhardt has been Director at the Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI) and Professor of Political Science at Bonn University since 1997. He has been advisor to political leaders in Europe and Africa. As a Public Policy Scholar he has worked at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C. As Visiting Professor he has taught and studied at renowned universities across the world, including St. Antony’s College Oxford, Stanford University, Dartmouth College, Seoul National University, Cape Town University, and the College of Europe in Bruges. He has conducted research in comparative region-building in all continents.