Has the European Experiment Failed?

The Munk Debates

by Niall Ferguson, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Josef Joffe

In the sweep of human history, the European Union stands out as one of humankind's most ambitious endeavours. It encompasses half a billion people, twenty-seven member states, twenty-three languages, and an economy valued at over $15 trillion. Modern Europe's stunning achievements aside, its sovereign debt crisis has shaken the world's largest political and economic union to its core. Can the federal institutions and shared values of Europeans meet the challenges of debt crisis that are as much political as economic? Or, are Europe's current woes indicative of a series of deep structural faults that foreshadow the breakup and failure of the European Union? In this edition of the Munk Debates -- Canada's premier international debate series -- former EU Commissioner Lord Peter Mandelson and EU parliament co-president of the Greens/European Free Alliance Group Daniel Cohn-Bendit, German publisher-editor and author Josef Joffe, and renowned economic historian Niall Ferguson debate the future of the EU -- one of the most pressing global issues of our day. For the first time ever, this electrifying debate, which played to a sold-out audience, is now available in print, along with candid interviews with Niall Ferguson and Lord Peter Mandelson. As youth unemployment rates flare, currencies collapse, and political alliances erode, the Munk Debate on Europe tries to Has the great European experiment failed?

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

104 pages, Paperback

First published October 8, 2012

About the author

Niall Ferguson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, former Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and current senior fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, a visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing, and founder and managing director of advisory firm Greenmantle LLC.

The author of 15 books, Ferguson is writing a life of Henry Kissinger, the first volume of which--Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist--was published in 2015 to critical acclaim. The World's Banker: The History of the House of Rothschild won the Wadsworth Prize for Business History. Other titles include Civilization: The West and the Rest, The Great Degeneration: How Institutions Decay and Economies Die and High Financier: The Lives and Time of Siegmund Warburg.

Ferguson's six-part PBS television series, "The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World," based on his best-seller, won an International Emmy for best documentary in 2009. Civilization was also made into a documentary series. Ferguson is a recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Service as well as other honors. His most recent book is The Square and the Tower: Networks on Power from the Freemasons to Facebook (2018).

(Source: Amazon)

Reviews

[Shane Senécal-Tremblay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Achieving fiscal federalism in Europe is like ascending the north face of the Eiger in Switzerland. Impossible with the weak hangers on? Is Germany going to carry Greece and Spain up? It's no easy climb, much less when encumbered with ostensible dead weight. But climbers also know the greatest dangers occur not during the ascent but descent .. and the euro project appears past the point of return. And given the lofty heights of its ambition, let's be happy for that.

[Cléverton Bezerra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an interesting debate, mainly when you take into account everything that happened after that. Great arguments, really engaging read and an important decision to bring such a necessary debate to a book.

[Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting debate, especially in retrospect re how the Eurozone crisis has unfolded. Striking how little mention of Great Britain is made, perhaps indicative of their role in the Union..