United Europe, Divided Europe
Edited by Walter Baier, Eric Canepa and Eva Himmelstoss
(Merlin Press, £16.95)

United Europe, Divided Europe — essays from a left perspective on the future of the continent — has been compiled by Transform, a network of academics who emerged from the World Social Forum.

Its focus is on the economic and political crisis in the European Union, where new right-wing populist parties from Ukip to the Alternative for Germany are rising in strength and where there is no agreed alternative vision being presented by the left.

While the contributions are diverse, they are as one in suggesting that while the EU is deeply flawed a return to a continent of individual states would not provide an alternative.

Bolstered by the increasing electoral strength of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL), the authors propound an alternative European future which is both ecological and socialist.

Many of the essays look at the results of the last European elections and, from Spain to Estonia, the electoral prospects of different political parties are closely analysed.

Others are more focused on alternatives and an interview with Alexis Tsipras is particularly fascinating, given his party Syriza’s election victory in Greece.

Etienne Balibar, known for his work with Louis Althusser and writings on Spinoza, makes a worthwhile contribution in discussing the loss of legitimacy of the European Union and makes the case for a democracy based on diversity and grassroots pressure.

Yet this collection is a little unsatisfying, in that Britain and Ireland are hardly mentioned at all — Transform does not seem to include members in either country. And while some suggestions for change are advanced, the collection highlights the uncertain and divided response of the left to the present European crisis.

The contradiction is that while the EU is flawed, it is difficult to see how alternative European institutions can be built.

Equally qualified majority voting means that a left alternative tends to be corrupted into political consensus within what remains a capitalist institution.

As United Europe, Divided Europe suggests the success of new left parties like Syriza and Podemos in Spain provide resistance and hope.

But many questions remain as to how left and indeed Green parties can present an alternative at a European level. Yet this book at least provides some analysis to move us in a better direction.