An Active Society in a Networked World: The Cultural Political Economy of Grand Strategies

"The subject of this book is the complex and controversial issues of the implementation of the EU's grand strategies, with a particular interest in the developmental success of the newest members of the European Union, the former post-socialist societies. The European Union implementation deficit has become proverbial failure, a phenomenon that is the subject of intense interest by researchers and is a concern for policymakers. While the impact of Europe 2020 has yet to be researched in greater detail, existing work is revealing substantial differences in implementation among the Member States, especially along the divisions between North and West on one hand and East and South on the other. Using the Cultural Political Economy as the theoretical background, the central focus of our interest is the study of possibilities and limitations of strategic steering of the economic development in the context of a comprehensive societal development, such as the Europe 2020 intention of achieving 'smart, inclusive and sustainable growth.'"