The Challenge Of European Integration

Book excerpt: The effort to establish economic, political, arid monetary integration in Europe is one of the great dramas of our time, and the implications of its success or failure are enormous for the rest of the world. In this volume distinguished economists and political scientists address the wide-ranging set of issues confronting the nations of Europe and explore the implications of the European experience for regional integration elsewhere. The distinguished contributors of this volume address an impressively broad range of issues, including the influence of Europe's troubled history since the 1930s, the performance of preferential trade arrangements and their impact on multilateral institutions such as the GATT, the particular impact of monetary integration, and the significance of all these developments for the political future of Europe. The Challenge of European Integration is a key document in the interpretation and understanding of current developments in Europe. It is required reading not just for economists and political scientists but for any student of contemporary Europe and of the emerging system of global trade and finance.