The Perfect Storm

Abstract

This essay comments on the main findings of the book and the broader challenges facing not only the European Union but also European integration scholars. It reflects on the substance of the liberal agenda at the heart of the EU’s founding, combining commitments to free trade, government regulation and individual rights. Shapiro explores the idea that the EU in some ways is a victim of its own success in that by delivering prosperity for the immediate post WWII generations, Europe is then also blamed for economic and social stagnation experienced by their descendants, after the conditions underpinning expansion have shifted. Shapiro identifies an anti-establishment popular movement in response to economic and social ills in Europe as an important political “syndrome” that clarifies “muddling through” as the EU’s dominant response to polycrisis.