Chapter 1 Europe A Continent in the Making – Chapter Summary The continent's early history was characterized by pan-European enterprises, like the Roman Empire, that rose to prominence and then, unable to maintain a grip on their far-flung territories, fell into disrepair. Competition between Europe's monarchies, and conflicts over religion, encouraged warfare that needed to be paid for, leading to greater centralization and to international treaties that established some if not all the borders we know today. Later pan-European empires, such as the Holy Roman Empire, were even more loosely coupled and gave way to smaller nations run more effectively by monarchs. Some of these - with Spain in the vanguard but Britain not far behind - began to seek their own empires in the New Worlds of America and India. With the coming of industry (and industrialized warfare) the tendency of states to seek protective alliances combined with the ideological struggle between capitalism and socialism to produce the Cold War - a stand-off between blocs led by the USA and the USSR that split Europe between a Soviet-ruled east and a west that sought peace and prosperity through European integration. European economies vary according to size, resources and history: size isn't everything but the richest countries tend to be bigger, to have industrialized relatively earlier and to have escaped communism. Although most European countries are richer than they have ever been, unemployment has returned to haunt them. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, CEE countries were free to determine their own destiny and overwhelmingly plumped for liberal capitalism. Many of them also joined what has become the European Union (EU). Europe's postcommunist countries have made huge - if not always unfaltering or even - strides towards catching up with their western counterparts economically, although it will still be a long haul. The relationship between industrialization and wealth no longer holds - Europe's future lies in the service economy. Europe's economies and its welfare states can be more or less neatly divided up according to the extent to which government plays an active role and the extent to which welfare is intended as living expression of egalitarian solidarity or a form of social insurance or merely a safety net. Globalization does not spell doom for European economies, although some are adjusting better than others. their governments are still committed to relatively high social spending and poverty is decreasing, most European countries are far from being classless societies -
Chapter 1 Europe – A Continent in the Making Chapter Summary The continent's early history was characterized by pan-European enterprises, like the Roman Empire, that rose to prominence and then, unable to maintain a grip on their far-flung territories, fell into disrepair. Competition between Europe's monarchies, and conflicts over religion, encouraged warfare that needed to be paid for, leading to greater centralization and to international treaties that established some if not all the borders we know today. Later pan-European empires, such as the Holy Roman Empire, were even more loosely coupled and gave way to smaller nations run more effectively by monarchs. Some of these - with Spain in the vanguard but Britain not far behind - began to seek their own empires in the New Worlds of America and India. With the coming of industry (and industrialized warfare) the tendency of states to seek protective alliances combined with the ideological struggle between capitalism and socialism to produce the Cold War - a stand-off between blocs led by the USA and the USSR that split Europe between a Soviet-ruled east and a west that sought peace and prosperity through European integration. European economies vary according to size, resources and history: size isn't everything but the richest countries tend to be bigger, to have industrialized relatively earlier and to have escaped communism. Although most European countries are richer than they have ever been, unemployment has returned to haunt them. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, CEE countries were free to determine their own destiny and overwhelmingly plumped for liberal capitalism. Many of them also joined what has become the European Union (EU). Europe's postcommunist countries have made huge - if not always unfaltering or even - strides towards catching up with their western counterparts economically, although it will still be a long haul. The relationship between industrialization and wealth no longer holds - Europe's future lies in the service economy. Europe's economies and its welfare states can be more or less neatly divided up according to the extent to which government plays an active role and the extent to which welfare is intended as living expression of egalitarian solidarity or a form of social insurance or merely a safety net. Globalization does not spell doom for European economies, although some are adjusting better than others. their governments are still committed to relatively high social spending and poverty is decreasing, most European countries are far from being classless societies -
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