The Europe we want

What awaits us after the nation? This is the fundamental question that runs through the political thinking of the French philosopher Pierre Manent, perhaps the world’s greatest authority in Tocqueville, perhaps the most lucid critic of the current model of European construction. The question is implicit in his concept of ‘Ciceronian moment’: the historical period that stands between two forms of state, whether it is the republic and empire – as …

The Europe we want

Some have spoken about the risk of Islamisation of Europe and the alleged danger that a Muslim presence poses for Western society. Others see immigration as an emerging threat to Europe’s existence.   Claudio Chipana   According to British historian, Eric Hobsbawm, Europe had a short 20th Century, starting with the First World War (1914) and ending with the collapse of the Soviet Union (1991). He called this the ‘age of extremes’, with communism…