The European Union and the Anti-Enlightenment Tradition - The Struggle for the Soul of Europe

Ziegler, Dezső Tamás (2025) The European Union and the Anti-Enlightenment Tradition - The Struggle for the Soul of Europe. Palgrave Macmillan Cham. ISBN 978-3-031-85295-4, 978-3-031-85296-1

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Abstract

This book serves as the closure of my research on the political conflicts in Europe in recent times. It is the result of several debates I had regarding the state of our societies, the post-fascist tendencies we produce and the functioning of the European Union. Recently, many in our Western soci-eties are wondering: how is it possible that far-right politicians like Viktor Orbán, Giorgia Meloni or Marine Le Pen receive widespread support? I believe we tend to downplay the relevance of questionable elements in our socio-cultural environment, social practices and legal systems. Everyday value choices have a very strong effect on domestic politics and, indirectly, on the European Union. However, it is very easy not to recognise the dark side of our political cultures alongside the positive aspects. The novelty of my work is that it explains how Enlightenment and anti-Enlightenment clichés work in actual, everyday policymaking. It thereby seeks to make some order from the existing ‘liquidity’ of the history of ideas. What I want to do in this volume is to put the small puzzle pieces into one big picture, to create a model to show which main drivers affect Member States and European Union policy changes today. Such a work must necessarily cover the disintegration in the European Union, the attacks against human rights and the rule of law, and the collapse of EU asylum policies.

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