What Does Europe Want?
The Union and Its Discontents
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- $35.99
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- $35.99
Publisher Description
Slavoj iek and Srecko Horvat combine their critical clout to emphasize the dangers of ignoring Europe's growing wealth gap and the parallel rise in right-wing nationalism, which is directly tied to the fallout from the ongoing financial crisis and its prescription of imposed austerity. To general observers, the European Union's economic woes appear to be its greatest problem, but the real peril is an ongoing ideological–political crisis that threatens an era of instability and reactionary brutality.
The fall of communism in 1989 seemed to end the leftist program of universal emancipation. However, nearly a quarter of a century later, the European Union has failed to produce any coherent vision that can mobilize people to action. Until recently, the only ideology receptive to European workers has been the nationalist call to "defend" against immigrant integration. Today, Europe is focused on regulating the development of capitalism and promoting a reactionary conception of its cultural heritage. Yet staying these courses, iek and Horvat show, only strips Europe of its power and stifles its political ingenuity. The best hope is for Europe to revive and defend its legacy of universal egalitarianism, which benefits all parties by preserving the promise of equal representation.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The European Union's uncertain fate and the reshaping of Europe are the focal points of this essay collection, made up of alternating selections from controversial philosopher i ek (The Parallax View) and political theorist Horvat. Alexis Tsipras, leader of Greece's Syriza party, also provides several contributions, including a foreword lamenting his country's economic collapse. i ek tends toward hyperbole, but his arguments are full of relevance and merit. His frequent digressions can be distracting or work brilliantly, as in a piece on debt cancellation that uses the story of Orpheus to illustrate the importance of grace and forgiveness. Horvat, for his part, dissects the possible fate of the EU's newest member, Croatia, convincingly arguing that the EU needs Croatia's validation, not the other way around. He also provides the book's afterword, which addresses the European implications of Russia's war against Ukraine and the 2014 political protests in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Each philosopher's particular deployment of current events, popular culture, and political history lends the book a conversational tone, but the connective tissue between the essays is the authors' understanding of the bigger picture in Europe. i ek and Horvat provide a deeply engaging and insightful polemic on how Europe went wrong and how it can recover.
