ABSTRACT
Western Europe, with some of the wealthiest and most developed capitalist democracies in the world, witnessed a radical reconceptualisation by many intellectuals and resistance movements of the meaning and purpose of the nation state to encompass both federal and functionalist desires for interstate cooperation and undermining of national sovereignty. Since the 1980s, there has been a renewed surge of interest in the meaning of 'Europe' and a reconsideration of its boundaries. However, the issue of boundaries in contemporary Europe is by no means confined to post-communist versus Western states. Europe is witnessing a rethinking of the boundaries of community and belonging, of inclusion and exclusion in terms of who is considered European, a national or citizen, and who is a migrant, often a non-citizen in terms of shared community myths, experiences and imaginations. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
