Europe Since 1980 (The World Since 1980)
Cambridge University Press, 4/8/2010
EAN 9780521129176, ISBN10: 0521129176
Paperback, 344 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm
Language: English
This book tells the dramatic story of the economic, social, political, and cultural transformation of Europe during the transition from the Cold War to the European Union. Ivan Berend charts, in particular, the overwhelming impact of the collapse of communism on every aspect of European life. Europe became safer and more united, and Central and Eastern Europe started on the difficult road to economic modernization. However, the western half of Europe also changed. European integration gained momentum. The single market and the common currency were introduced, and the Union enlarged from nine to twenty-seven countries. This period also saw a revolution in information and communication technology, the increasing impact of globalization and the radical restructuring of the political system. The book explores the impact of all of these changes as well as the new challenges posed by the economic crisis of 2008–9 and asks which way now for Europe?
Introduction
1. Europe approaches the 1980s
the dual crises (1968–1980)
2. The end of 'Two Europes' and European integration
3. The new cultural and political setting
4. The economic response to globalization. Recovery and growth. The integration of eastern and western Europe
5. Dramatic demographic and social changes, consumerism and the welfare state
Epilogue. Quo vadis Europa?
Bibliography.
'This important book is contemporary history as it should be written. Against a triple background of central European, communist-era and US experience, Ivan Berend displays and critically analyses the situation and prospects of Europe, especially since the integration of the ex-communist states. He does so with his unique combination of information, lucidity, realism and sweeping historical perspective. One cannot fail to learn from, and sometimes to be surprised by, this coolly comparative diagnosis of Europe's problems.' Eric Hobsbawm, Birkbeck College, University of London