The European Union is a political order with a unique character and continental scope, with a population of 446 million, the third largest on the planet, albeit with minimal influence over the behavior of its representatives. Six decades after the foundational treaty, what form has crystallized and does the promise of an ever-closer union still hold?

Against the bloc's self-image, Perry Anderson sets the historical background of its formation. He traces the broader course of European history, from World War I to the euro crisis, from the hegemony of Versailles to that of Maastricht, and integrates the work of leading contemporary analysts of the EU—both independent critics and court philosophers—into older traditions of political thought. Are there similarities with the era of Metternich, lessons of political art from that of Machiavelli?

An excursion into the sudden departure of the United Kingdom from the Union examines the reactions it has triggered in domestic intellectual circles, from remorse to intense responses. How do Brussels and Westminster compare as constitutional forms? Alternatively, which may be considered worse?

Pages: 272, Year of Publication: 0105, Dimensions: 14x14cm