A Value-Driven European Future

Book synopsis
Comprising a well structured, interdisciplinary view of culturally founded and value driven reflections on Europe's future this volume brings together a number of papers from an international workshop organised by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence of the University of Padua on October 2011 with some additional contributions. The essays are posed within a policy-oriented, institutional and international law of human rights framework, following a non-conventional but inspiring approach. This book provides a valuable resource for European scholars, policymakers and interested and critical citizens committed to the idea of Europe. It proposes a reading of the complexities of transforming realities, oriented towards a common destiny of sustainable and cohesive societies in a globalised world, providing a human-centric outline for Europe's future development.

Table of Contents

Preface
José Maria Gil-Robles

General Introduction
Léonce Bekemans

PART I. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

A Conceptual Context: Introduction
Léonce Bekemans

A Future Perspective on Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue: an Institutional and Policy-oriented View
Ulrich Bunjes

International Law of Human Rights for Fostering Religious Freedom and Intercultural Dialogue
Antonio Papisca

PART II. VALUE-DRIVEN FOUNDATIONS OF EUROPE

A Value-Driven Foundation: Introduction
Léonce Bekemans

Value-Driven Foundations of European Integration
Thomas Jansen

The Idea of Europe: Identity-building from a Historical Perspective
Léonce Bekemans

A Spiritual Foundation for Europe: a Future Oriented Perspective
Luk Bouckaert

Human Rights and Intercultural Dialogue: European Challenges and Perspectives
Christoph Eberhard

The European Parliament as an Institutional Memory Entrepreneur
Wolfram Kaiser

The Champions of the Cultural Dialogue between Europe and China: Jesuit Missionaries and Scientists in China between the 17th and the 18th Century
Riccardo Scartezzini

PART III. PERSPECTIVES OF A VALUE ORIENTED EUROPE IN THEWORLD

A Value-Driven Orientation: Introduction
Léonce Bekemans

The European Social Market Economy in the Economic and Monetary Union
Dario Velo

Institutional and International Issues of the Europe 2020 Strategy
Luc Van den Brande

A Common Goods’ Understanding: of Europe and the World
Peter Xuereb

The Multiple Crises of Europe
Ferenc Miszlivetz

A Value-Driven European Future: An Education Perspective of the European Civitas
Léonce Bekemans

Cultural Relativism, Human Rights and the Co-existence of Contrasting Religious Prescriptions in the Islamic Tradition
Johannes Thomas

Notes on Contributors

About the author/editor

Léonce Bekemans holds the Jean Monnet Chair ad personam for Globalisation, Europeanisation, Human Development at the University of Padua, where he is the academic coordinator of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence and collaborates with the Interdepartmental Centre on Human Rights.