The Decline and Fall of Europe

by Bongiovanni, Francesco M.

• ISBN13: 9780230368927
• ISBN10: 0230368921
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-04-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

IS EUROPE DOOMED? What if it fell apart? What if the Eurozone crisis was just the beginning of what's in store for Europe? What if there were other destructive forces besides economic ones that threatened to blow the entire edifice into pieces? InThe Decline and Fall of Europe, Dr. Francesco M. Bongiovanni offers a unique panoramic view of the intractable challenges Europe faces today, starting from the birth of "Project Europe" with its unique political and economic model, charting the progress and shortcomings of the Union, addressing how the continent has descended into geopolitical irrelevance, how Europeans espoused what became the unsustainable "civilization of entitlements", the challenges of enlargement and the question of Turkey's accession, how decades of mismanagement of immigration planted the seeds of social instability, how growth has become a forgotten word in most of Europe, and how the Euro, intended to be the glue holding the Union together is threatening to bring it down instead. The conclusion that increasing impoverishment and instability await Europeans seems inescapable. The book offers a timely, multi-dimensional and irreverent portrait of a decaying Europe, reviewing in detail the causes and consequences of a decline which is going to affect Europeans as well as the entire world.

Author Biography

FRANCESCO M. BONGIOVANNI has lived and done business for decades in Europe, America, Asia and the Arab world. A Harvard-educated entrepreneur and former investment banker, he has also worked in international advisory and private equity, and founded companies in various sectors. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an engineering doctorate from Italy and has been featured in the press. He was made a Knight of the Order of St. Charles in 2008 for his humanitarian and biodiversity protection endeavors.

Table of Contents

"It has become impossible to pretend otherwise: Europe is in steep decline. The Continental dream of economic prosperity, social security and international good citizenship has given way to a nightmare of chronic unemployment, unsustainable debt, demographic decline, political paralysis and street violence. In The Decline and Fall of Europe, Francesco Bongiovanni offers the most perceptive account to date of a Europe that indulged too many illusions and is now awakening to bankruptcy." — Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal

"Provocative and alarming, a wake-up call for 21st century Europeans." - Nils Pratley, The Guardian


"An important read for anyone interested in the future of Europe." - John Paulson, President, Paulson & Co. Inc.


"A very lively and witty survey of Europe's ills." - Dominique Moisi, author of The Geopolitics of Emotions

"In view of the current crisis in the European Union in general and the Euro zone in particular, the arrival of this book could not be more timely. It is a comprehensive review of the way the initial favorable development of the E.U. has gone wrong and the range of problems it currently faces." —Stephen Valdez, author of An Introduction to Global Financial Markets