Europe and the end of the age of innocence
By: Francesco M. Bongiovanni
Published: 2018
Language: eng
Number of pages: 318
ISBN-13: 9783319743691
Subjects: Social conditions; Politics and government; European Union
Description: Francesco Bongiovanni returns with a sequel to The Decline and the Fall of Europe, a book Guardian journalist Nils Pratley labelled 'a wake-up call for the twenty-first century'. Since 2012 Europe has been confronted with new, unexpected game-changing challenges such as the refugee crisis and its human tsunami, the surprise of Brexit and the explosion of 'alternative' politics. Europeans have finally come to realize that the open-societies that they have been comfortably living in are under threat and fragmenting, leaving their survival uncertain. Minorities are falling prey to an Islamist ideology that conveys values and customs diametrically opposed to European ones. Terrorist acts have become the 'new normal', part of daily life. The North-South cleavage brought about by the eurozone crisis is now completed by a deep East-West cleavage born from the refugee crisis. Against this backdrop, a Germany that is not all that it seems has become Europe's de-facto ruler, but is unfit to lead, while Trump's America cannot be counted on as it once used to be, forcing Europe to fend for itself. A beacon of stability and prosperity in the past, a naive and unprepared Europe, facing new and terrifying challenges is today more than ever torn apart, increasingly unstable and adrift. -- from cover
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Intro; About the Author; Contents; 1: Introduction; Part I: The Trilogy; 2: The Awakening; Jolted!; It's Not the Economy Anymore; The Things We Talk About; Beyond Political Correctness; The Debate That Wasn't; Crash Test Dummies; 3: The Tsunami; After the Euro, the Great Immigration Debacle; How Did We Get Here? How Did They Get Here?; Eyes Wide Shut; Realities on the Ground; When the Sultan Comes Calling; The 100 Billion Euro Gamble; 'Wir Schaffen es'! ... or Maybe We Can't; The Cost of Good Conscience; Welcome to the Ghetto; Bye Bye Schengen (and the Rest)?; Gaddafi Blues; title: 4: Barbarians in the CityThe Archipelago; The Bad and the Worse; And the Winner Is...; With a Little Help from My Friends; Allons enfants...but Where?; The Price of Moderation; Wrong Question; Free Radicals; The Devil You Know; Asymmetric War; The Illusion of Accommodation; Mister Rogers' Neighbourhood; A Question of Choice; An Ounce of Prevention...; 5: The Rise of Alternative Politics; Angry Birds; The Changing Soul of Europe; Farewell Nation-State, Hello Nations' State; Vox Populi; A Conspiracy of Silence; The Future of the Past; Grapes of Wrath; Jumping Without a Parachute; Outcomes; title: The Show Is Not Over Yet...King of the 'Anywheres'; 6: Ensuring the Survival of a 'Europe of Values'; Clarity of Purpose; UMI: Solutions Exist!; Fighting the War at Home; Keeping the Stork Busy; The Value of Values; Part II: A Brief History of How to Mess Things Up; 7: The Island That Couldn't Get Far Enough; After Tea Time, a Little Surprise; Disagreeing to Disagree; Waking Up with a Hangover; Finding Meaning in the Afterlife; Back to Basics; 8: Uber Alles? Not So Fast!; A Benign Hegemon; Annoying Details; It Isn't All that It Seems to Be; The Missing Goods; The Joys of Becoming More 'Normal'?; title: 9: The More It Changes, the More It Stays the SameThe Wrong Stuff; Post-Mortem; The Missing Link; Bad Students and Good Students; Never Missing an Opportunity to Miss an Opportunity; The Mishandling of Greece; The Problem with Being on the Wrong Continent; The Show Is Not Over; Free Willy; 10: The Gas Wars; New Kid on the Block; Seizing the Opportunity; Do You Know When to Stop?; Being the Ball in the Ballgame; 11: The Trump Card; Reshuffling the Deck; The Joy of Working Against Yourself; Tweets and Fits; Pay or Pray; Messiah or Devil?; 12: Conclusion; Sources and Acknowledgements