Collapse: Europe after the European Union

Everyone talks about the EU’s existential crisis, but Ian Kearns’ new book actually describes how the EU could collapse and what it would mean. Collapse sets out the specific scenarios that could lead to the European Union's collapse in shocking and all-too plausible detail. Indeed, two of the six scenarios (a populist breakthrough in Italy and a flare-up of the migration crisis) have arguably begun since the book was published in April. Collapse charts the catastrophic economic, political and geopolitical developments likely to follow should these or other scenarios occur. But the book is a warning of a possible future not a prediction of things to come. It also offers recommendations about how to avoid the worst outcomes and to position Europe for success in the remainder of the twenty-first century.

Ian Kearns (@IankKearns) is a board member of the European Leadership Network and former Deputy Director at the Institute for Public Policy Research.

Jeremy Shapiro (@JyShapiro) is Director of Research at ECFR. Previously he was a fellow at the Brookings Institution and member of the US State Department Policy Planning Staff.