This text offers a comprehensive overview of both tradition and transformation in the social and cultural relationships at the heart of the political and socio-economic landscape in Europe today.

This book will enable students to: distinguish between `processes of governance' and `structures of government' and examine the emergence of new forms of governance and political participation in Europe; evaluate competing sociocultural sources of diversity and unity and the various mechanisms of bottom-up and top-down governance; assess what is meant by `culture' and consider the construction of a `national' identity in Europe; explore the connections between national identity and citizenship and apply different theories of identity to issues of inclusion and exclusion; and consider the prospects for further European integration and expansion and the difficulties in reconciling cultural and social diversity with social cohesion.