Europe in the time of crisis

The European Union seems to be the most successful example of a international model of governance since the large historical empires, including the Holy Roman Empire, the Ottoman and Habsburg Empires etc. However, none of those historical empires developed in such a short period of time as the EU, which within a period of less than fifty years passed from organisation of six to twenty eight states, and from an economic union to a monetary and political union.
At the same time, the European Union’s important role as a world economic and political power did not prevent it from falling into a phase of crisis due to the big bang enlargement of 2004/2007, the Constitutional referenda in France and the Netherlands in 2005, the financial crisis in 2008, the rising role of Asia and present developments concerning Russia's invasion into Ukraine. At this moment Europe no longer appears so mighty.
The present volume, prepared within the programme of the Jean Monnet Chair “European integration at the turn of XX and XXI century”, is a collection of papers delivered during a series of lectures and seminars organised at the Faculty of International Studies and Political Science of the University of Lodz in the time span of 2011-2014. A vast majority of the texts is devoted to various aspects of the European Union, which has been in a time of crisis.

Stanisław Konopacki (from lntroduction)