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In the last decade or so, many books have been devoted to the history of Europe.Two conceptual axes predominate in a large number of these accounts: a discourse focusing on Europe's values, and another discourse, fashioned largely in opposition to the first, which emphasizes the process of European "construction." The first conceives of Europe's past teleologically, as a process by which certain values (Christian ethics, individualism, capitalism, tolerance, republicanism, due process, etc.) were affirmed and came to define European culture. The second approach rejects the discourse on values emphasizes the post-Enlightenment emergence of the concept of Europe, and the political and ideological implications in its continuous redefinitions (and re elaborations) during the past two or more centuries. This volume offers new approaches that integrate the long temporal dimension of the values-based approach, albeit devoid of its teleological element, with the "constructivist" interpretation.

Anthony Molho is Professor of History and Head of the Department of History and Civilization of the European University Institute. His special subjects are the history of the state in early modern Europe and the history of the Italian Renaissance.

Diogo Ramada Curto is the Vasco da Gama Professor of History at the European University Institute and a specialist in the history of European expansion and colonialism.