Conclusion

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter revisits the questions that animate the book: What is the appropriate size of a political community? If a supranational state is undesirable, can Europeans reclaim more control at the national level? Can the European Union prove itself an effective global actor, able to stand up for its interests vis-à-vis China, Russia, and the United States? The exceptional challenges that Europe faced at the beginning of 2020s, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, led to erratic responses that proved suboptimal: the politics of the emergency alternated with the technocratic rule of rules, undermining democracy in the process. The chapter questions the assumption popular within EU studies that crises are ultimately conducive to European unity. It concludes by urging Europe's political elites to stop chasing Arcadia--the promised land of a post-national, or supranational democracy--in order to regain popular support.