After two centuries of nation-building, the world has entered an era of region-building in search of political stability, cultural cohesion, and socio-economic development. Nations involved in the regional structures and integration schemes that are emerging in most regions of the world are deepening their ambitions, with Europe's integration experience often used as an experimental template or theoretical model. Volume I provides a political-analytical framework for recognizing the central role of the European Union not only as a conceptual model but also a normative engine in the global proliferation of regional integration. It also gives a comprehensive treatment of the focus, motives, and objectives of non-European integration efforts. Volume II offers a unique collection of documents that give the best available overview of the legal and political evolution of region-building based on official documents and stated objectives of the relevant regional groupings across all continents. Together, these volumes are important contributions for understanding the evolution of global affairs in an age when power shifts provide new challenges and opportunities for transatlantic partners and the world community.

Ludger Kuhnhardt has been Director at the Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI) and Professor of Political Science at Bonn University since 1997. He has been advisor to political leaders in Europe and Africa. As a Public Policy Scholar he has worked at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C. As Visiting Professor he has taught and studied at renowned universities across the world, including St. Antony's College Oxford, Stanford University, Dartmouth College, Seoul National University, Cape Town University, and the College of Europe in Bruges. He has conducted research in comparative region-building in all continents."

This book discusses contemporary constellations of international politics and global transformation. It offers guidance on how to conceptualize the complexity of current global changes and practical policy advice in order to promote an open global society. In the light of today's challenges, the author re-interprets the main argument of the philosopher Karl Popper in "The Open Society and Its Enemies". Based on this framework and new empirical evidence, the book discusses the thesis of an ongoing Third World War, triggered by fundamental deficits in nation-building, occurring primarily within states and not between them, and accelerated by asymmetric forms of warfare and Islamist totalitarianism.The book also explores various threats to the global order, such as the paradox of borders as barriers and bridges, the global effects of the youth bubble in many developing countries, and the misuse of religious interpretation for the use of political violence. Lastly, the author identifies advocates and supporters of a liberal, multilateral and open order and argues for a reinvention of the Western world to contribute to a revival of a liberal global order, based on mutual respect and joint leadership.

This two-volume handbook provides readers with a comprehensive interpretation of globality through the multifaceted prism of the humanities and social sciences. Key concepts and symbolizations rooted in and shaped by European academic traditions are discussed and reinterpreted under the conditions of the global turn. Highlighting consistent anthropological features and socio-cultural realities, the handbook gathers coherently structured articles written by 110 professors in the humanities and social sciences at Bonn University, Germany, who initiate a global dialogue on meaningful and sustainable notions of human life in the age of globality. Volume 1 introduces readers to various interpretations of globality, and discusses notions of human development, communication and aesthetics. Volume 2 covers notions of technical meaning, of political and moral order, and reflections on the shaping of globality.

While the major trends in European integration have been well researched and constitute key elements of narratives about its value and purpose, the crises of integration and their effects have not yet attracted sufficient attention. This volume, with original contributions by leading German scholars, suggests that crises of integration should be seen as engines of progress throughout the history of European integration rather than as expressions of failure and regression, a widely held assumption. It therefore throws new light on the current crises in European integration and provides a fascinating panorama of how challenges and responses were guiding the process during its first five decades.

After two centuries of nation-building, the world has entered an era of region-building in search of political stability, cultural cohesion, and socio-economic development. Nations involved in the regional structures and integration schemes that are emerging in most regions of the world are deepening their ambitions, with Europe's integration experience often used as an experimental template or theoretical model. Volume I provides a political-analytical framework for recognizing the central role of the European Union not only as a conceptual model but also a normative engine in the global proliferation of regional integration. It also gives a comprehensive treatment of the focus, motives, and objectives of non-European integration efforts. Volume II offers a unique collection of documents that give the best available overview of the legal and political evolution of region-building based on official documents and stated objectives of the relevant regional groupings across all continents. Together, these volumes are important contributions for understanding the evolution of global affairs in an age when power shifts provide new challenges and opportunities for transatlantic partners and the world community.

Ludger Kuhnhardt has been Director at the Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI) and Professor of Political Science at Bonn University since 1997. He has been advisor to political leaders in Europe and Africa. As a Public Policy Scholar he has worked at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C. As Visiting Professor he has taught and studied at renowned universities across the world, including St. Antony's College Oxford, Stanford University, Dartmouth College, Seoul National University, Cape Town University, and the College of Europe in Bruges. He has conducted research in comparative region-building in all continents."

While the major trends in European integration have been well researched and constitute key elements of narratives about its value and purpose, the crises of integration and their effects have not yet attracted sufficient attention. This volume, with original contributions by leading German scholars, suggests that crises of integration should be seen as engines of progress throughout the history of European integration rather than as expressions of failure and regression, a widely held assumption. It therefore throws new light on the current crises in European integration and provides a fascinating panorama of how challenges and responses were guiding the process during its first five decades.

This book discusses contemporary constellations of international politics and global transformation. It offers guidance on how to conceptualize the complexity of current global changes and practical policy advice in order to promote an open global society. In the light of today's challenges, the author re-interprets the main argument of the philosopher Karl Popper in "The Open Society and Its Enemies". Based on this framework and new empirical evidence, the book discusses the thesis of an ongoing Third World War, triggered by fundamental deficits in nation-building, occurring primarily within states and not between them, and accelerated by asymmetric forms of warfare and Islamist totalitarianism.The book also explores various threats to the global order, such as the paradox of borders as barriers and bridges, the global effects of the youth bubble in many developing countries, and the misuse of religious interpretation for the use of political violence. Lastly, the author identifies advocates and supporters of a liberal, multilateral and open order and argues for a reinvention of the Western world to contribute to a revival of a liberal global order, based on mutual respect and joint leadership.

In the past, the world scrambled for Africa to win slaves, territory, and resources. Today, the world scrambles with Africa to do business in global markets. In Africa Consensus: New Interests, Initiatives, and Partners, Ludger Kuhnhardt argues that new African politics, African regional institutions, and global demand for partnerships for trade and security will lead the continent to new relationships with the United States, the European Union, China, India, Brazil, and other emerging economies. Kuhnhardt reviews the history of Africa's international status and employs the rising African Union's own identified "intervention areas" - peace and security; development, integration, and cooperation; shared values; and institution- and capacity-building - to analyze challenges and possibilities.

Die Aufzeichnungen, die Ludger Kuhnhardt in 235 Landern und Territorien der Erde verfasst hat, lassen ein faszinierendes Panorama entstehen, gespiegelt in persoenlichen Eindrucken, Begegnungen und Erfahrungen eines in aller Welt tatigen Politikwissenschaftlers und Publizisten. Das Buch rekonstruiert die Verknupfungen zwischen den Transformationen Europas und dem entstehenden globalen Zeitalter wahrend sechs Jahrzehnten ab 1960 bis zur Schwelle der post-Corona-Welt 2020.