The hope of building an united Europe has exercised the imagination of poets, politicians and scholars for many centuries. Recent debates about the European project reflect much older concerns about the scale on which government, citizenship and sovereignty should operate. The on-going controversy about European unity ultimately stems from highly personal questions: who I am and where do I belong?



This book charts the development of the European idea from the Renaissance to the present day, with particular reference to the last hundred years. It examines and questions the European debate and seeks to lay bare the often unexamined territorial assumptions which have informed discussions about Europe's nature, extent and geopolitical order. Placing recent European controversies in their appropriate historical and geographical contexts, it provides a critical reading of the European idea, past, present and future.ast and what it might mean in the future.