Description: In this important compendium, one of the leading scholars of EU law and its legal framework, reflects on his previous writings in the context of current challenges the European project is facing. More than a simple restatement, it offers an important theoretical comment at this defining time for EU law. The author offers a welcome counterbalance to what some perceive to be a surfeit of optimism when assessing the EU and its development. In so doing, Professor Joerges identifies three flaws in the current European ideology. Firstly, he points to the intellectual weakness of the "integration through law" ideology. Secondly, the book sets out the systematic neglect of "the economic" and its political dynamics. Finally, it addresses the complacency with respect to Europe's darker legacies. This is an important critical (and candid) assessment of Europe at its half century.
Brief description: Gunther Teubner is Professor Emeritus of Private Law and Legal Sociology at the Faculty of Law, Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Review Quotes: "[T]he volume reconstructs the key intellectual debates of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, using a personal and provocative tone that catches the reader's attention despite the incredible depth of the ideas put forward." --Journal of Law and Society