European Futures : Challenges and Crossroads for the European Union of 2050

This edited volume explores the opportunities and challenges facing the European Union in the future from different disciplines and assesses the EU’s prospects across various policy areas.

Using the European Commission’s 2017 White Paper presenting five different scenarios for the future of Europe to 2050 as an organising framework for analysis and debate, the volume reflects upon the drivers of the EU’s future, including its changing place in an evolving world, a transformed economy and society, heightened threats and concerns about security and borders, and questions of trust and legitimacy. The concluding chapter summarises and compares the findings to determine which of the scenarios is the most instructive to understand and plan European Futures to 2050, and beyond.

This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of European integration, EU politics/studies, and more broadly international relations, as well as European policy-makers.

Chad Damro is Senior Lecturer of Politics and International Relations, Academic Convenor of the FUTURES Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence and Co-Director of the Europa Institute at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

Elke Heins is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the School of Social and Political Science, and Academic Co-convenor of the FUTURES Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

Drew Scott is Professor of European Union Studies and Co-Director of the Europa Institute at the University of Edinburgh, UK.