This concise but wide-ranging work explores the major political, economic, and strategic challenges confronting the European Union in the context of a rapidly changing geopolitical environment.

Steve Wood and Wolfgang Quaisser consider the actors and issues at the center of current developments in the integration process. Beginning with some basic conceptual questions—for example, what is Europe?—they focus on the Union's increasingly complex politics and economy. Their discussion ranges from political economy, to policy reform and institutional change, to the arena of international relations. They also address the more intangible factors of European identity and common political will.

An intriguing set of possible future scenarios concludes the authors' up-to-date examination of the EU after enlargement.

Steve Wood is senior lecturer in politics and international relations at Macquarie University in Australia and associate research fellow at the Osteuropea Institute in Munich. He is author of, among other books and articles, Germany and East-Central Europe: Political, Economic and Socio-Cultural Relations in the Era of EU Enlargement. Wolfgang Quaisser is senior research fellow at the Osteuropa Institute and lecturer in economics and social policy at the Academy for Political Education. His recent publications in English include EU Member Turkey? Preconditions, Consequences and Integration Alternatives, coauthored with Steve Wood.