The State of Europe

What shape will the "new" Europe take in this century? Malignant nationalism has long been a curse in Europe, with the continent wracked by two World Wars during the first half of the 20th century, followed by a "long twilight struggle" between Cold War superpowers. Can there be a kinder, gentler form of nationalism? As Europe seeks its new identity, suspicion of European integration runs high, since memories of nationalist aggression remain fresh, and small countries fear losing their national sovereignty to a super state. Each of the 12 volumes in The State of Europe series, which is organized around key themes on European integration, contains a pair of brief reports on European countries or regions. In the two reviewed volumes, Identity: How European are We? compares and contrasts the concerns of the small nation of Denmark with the autonomous region of Catalonia, Spain, while Unity and Disintegration presents contrasting views on the effect of Communism's collapse--the crumbling of the Berlin Wall leading to the peaceful reunification of Germany vs. the vacuum in Yugoslavia setting the stage for bloody civil wars. Co-produced by public broadcasting stations in Ireland, Sweden, and the Netherlands, and obviously intended for seminar or classroom use, the series should probably be viewed whole to have much value and is therefore recommended for subject-specific coursework in academic collections, and optional elsewhere. The other titles in the series are: Euro-Money, Democracy and Accountability, Euro-Policies: Where Does Our Money Go?, A Market Free and Fair, Social Welfare, Enlargement, Good Neighbors, European Union: Aid and Trade, Frontiers and Borders and Monnet: The Vision and Reality. Aud: C. (S. Rees)