Abstract
While Europe has faced trials during the financial crisis and subsequent austerity, the European continent is still considered one of the most stable areas on the planet. This article argues, however, that there are overarching trends in Europe which, left unaddressed, will reinforce one another to cause instability. The article applies Arend Lijphart’s theory of consociational democracy, or elite accommodation, and Robert Putnam’s theory of the two-level game to European integration, using these theories as the lenses through which to view growing roots of instability in the European environment: demographic decline, immigration, populism, and educational and labor shortfalls. These trends are analyzed in terms of their magnitude and persistence as well as their social, economic, and political impacts on the EU member states, highlighting the choices the elite must make in order to successfully navigate those trends and preserve the European project.
Highlights
While Europe has faced trials during the financial crisis and subsequent austerity, the European continent is still considered one of the most stable areas on the planet
Religion, age, gender, socio-economic class, and social philosophy are exacerbated by demographic decline, education and labor shortfalls, ambivalence about immigration, the rise of populism, and disaffection with elites
The remainder of this paper analyzes these trends in terms of their magnitude and persistence as well as their social, economic, and political impacts on the EU member states, highlighting the choices the elite must make in order to successfully navigate those trends and preserve the European project
Summary
While Europe has faced trials during the financial crisis and subsequent austerity, the European continent is still considered one of the most stable areas on the planet. Trust in European institutions, boosted by perceptions of good performance, increases positive feelings toward further integration and transfer of national powers, such as foreign policy setting, to the EU level [9].
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