Cosmopolitan Europe - Softcover

Beck, Ulrich; Grande, Prof Edgar

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0745635636 ISBN 13: 9780745635637

Publisher: Polity, 2007

Synopsis

Europe is Europe’s last remaining realistic political utopia. But Europe remains to be understood and conceptualised. This historically unique form of inter-state community resists the traditional categories and concepts of the nation-state. Hence cosmopolitan Europe can only be disclosed through a radical self-criticism of conventional concepts of politics and the state which remain trapped in the straightjacket of methodological nationalism. Just as the Peace of Westphalia brought the religious civil wars of the 17th century to an end through the separation of Church and State, so too the separation of State and Nation can be the response to the horror of the 20th century. And just as the secular state makes possible the exercise of different religions, cosmopolitan Europe must ensure the coexistence of different ethnic, religious and political forms of life across national borders on the basis of the principle of constitutional toleration. Nothing less than rethinking Europe is the task the authors have set themselves in this book. It represents an attempt to grasp Europeanization in light of the theory of reflexive modernisation and thereby to redefine it theoretically and politically. This book completes Ulrich Beck’s trilogy on ‘cosmopolitan realism', whose volumes complement each other and can be read independently. It will be essential reading for anyone interested in the key social and political developments of our time.

About this title

About the Author

U. Beck, Professor of Sociology, Ludwig-Maximillian University of Munich

From the Back Cover

Europe is Europe’s last remaining realistic political utopia. But Europe remains to be understood and conceptualized. This historically unique form of international community cannot be explained in terms of the traditional concepts of politics and the state, which remain trapped in the straightjacket of methodological nationalism. Thus, if we are to understand cosmopolitan Europe, we must radically rethink the conventional categories of social and political analysis.

Just as the Peace of Westphalia brought the religious civil wars of the seventeenth century to an end through the separation of church and state, so too the separation of state and nation represents the appropriate response to the horrors of the twentieth century. And just as the secular state makes the exercise of different religions possible, so too cosmopolitan Europe must guarantee the coexistence of different ethnic, religious and political forms of life across national borders based on the principle of cosmopolitan tolerance.

The task the authors have set themselves in this book is nothing less than to rethink Europe as an idea and a reality. It represents an attempt to understand the process of Europeanization in light of the theory of reflexive modernization and thereby to redefine it at both the theoretical and the political level.

This book completes Ulrich Beck’s trilogy on ‘cosmopolitan realism’, the volumes of which complement each other and can be read independently. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the key social and political developments of our time.

Just as the Peace of Westphalia brought the religious civil wars of the seventeenth century to an end through the separation of church and state, so too the separation of state and nation represents the appropriate response to the horrors of the twentieth century. And just as the secular state makes the exercise of different religions possible, so too cosmopolitan Europe must guarantee the coexistence of different ethnic, religious and political forms of life across national borders based on the principle of cosmopolitan tolerance.

The task the authors have set themselves in this book is nothing less than to rethink Europe as an idea and a reality. It represents an attempt to understand the process of Europeanization in light of the theory of reflexive modernization and thereby to redefine it at both the theoretical and the political level.

This book completes Ulrich Beck’s trilogy on ‘cosmopolitan realism’, the volumes of which complement each other and can be read independently. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the key social and political developments of our time.

Edition details

• Publisher: Polity
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0745635636
• ISBN 13: 9780745635637
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 326