Covers the issues of competitiveness, cohesion, ageing, migration, employment and social polarization, enlargement, and the emergence of regionalism and nationalism. This textbook is an introduction to economic, social and political challenges that the EU faces. These challenges determine the place of the EU in the world.

At the beginning of the 21st century the European Union faces twin challenges: the institutional challenge, linked to the processes of greater integration and expansion, and the structural challenge, which will in the medium-run determine the place of the EU in the world. This book deals with this latter set of challenges, focusing on economic aspects, such as competitiveness and cohesion, as well as on other important issues such as ageing, migration, social polarization, and the emergence of regionalism and nationalism.

'...an extraordinarily useful overview of the economic geography/macro-sociology of the EU, not least for its strongly pedagogic intentions (that include on-line maps, data, and overheads that can be used in the classroom to support the text).' Environment and Planning 2003