Recently a new book came out titled: "Europe - an idea takes shape." Here our Critical Investigation:

Research Report: Conflict and Ethnicity:

Research Report: Ethnoclass in Eastern Europe.

Many have forgotten this, but Europe had its fair share of ‘revolutions’ and ‘political religions’ “Kulturkampf,” it was called at the end of the 19th century, almost identical to what by the end, of the 20th Century was called clash of  “Civilizations.” In Germany ‘Kultur’ was understood to be Protestantism, an identification partly made to reinvigorate Protestantism among a bourgeoisie that no longer attended church. As for ‘Kultur’ in Belgium, in 1936 a liberal historian wrote that liberal “Brussels had no intention of being trodden underfoot by thousands of clogs”, this being a reference to the clog-shod Catholic -Flemish (similar to Dutch, who when employed were not allowed to speak their native language) farmers, who flooded into the capital city to protest against (French language) liberal policies. (Quoted in Winfried Becker, 'Liberale Kulturkampf-Positionen and politischer Katholizismus,1983.) If one is looking for the intellectual progenitor for "the cult of the personality”, look no further than Campanella. But, hyper-nationalism, was not principally a phenomenon of the far Right, it was enthusiastically embraced by many on the Left throughout much of the 19th century. P.1: The New World of  'Sociology'.

Socialists at first generally tried to get back to some sort of Christianity predating Constantine. While Russian radicals, despairing of the tsars' fitful reforms, moved from Christian reformism to evolve terrorist ideologies anticipating al-Qaida, including suicide bombers. P.2: Signor Mazzini I Presume?

Social Democrats, A Political Religion

Updated: P.4: The 1914 Clash of Civilisations

True History of the European Community, P.1: Its WWI Origin

True History of the European Community, P.2: Which Europe?

Recently a summit of EU leaders debated about the benefits and flip-sides of the current 'European versions'of 'globalization'. By democratizing, elites credibly transfer political power to the citizens, ensuring social stability. Democracy consolidates when elites do not have strong incentives to overthrow it. These processes depend on the strength of civil society, the structure of political institutions plus the structure of the economy.  What also had an influence is where Britain had an economy-based empire and its goal was not to dominate the world, realizing that they were a middle-weight country. The U.S., was not created through economic dominance but crafted through political means, meaning the political forces that are by some seen like empire building today, may not last. In a protectionist Europe in the meantime, where large companies faced little international competition and offered jobs for life the past fifty years, a blend of capitalist enterprise and social concern with high taxes, seemed a reasonable way. In fact despite hefty government spending on social benefits, Finland tops global economies today. Finland however is also well equipped to meet the challenges of an aging population, something that is not the case of  Belgium for example.

P.1 Globalization and Economics: A Search for the Holy Grail?:

On a just released (WWIII)Warsaw-pact map, western Europe lay beneath a chilling overlay of large red mushroom clouds: Soviet bombs rain down on cities from northern Denmark down to Brussels, the political headquarters of Nato. Large red clouds blot out cities such as Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich and Baden Baden, Haarlem, Antwerp and Charleroi, above the Franco-Belgian border. On the map, smaller blue mushroom clouds showed expected Nato targets - most of them relatively precise attacks - including strikes on Warsaw and Prague. Cold War and Modern Historiography.