The study of Europe has never been more active. Whether the conversation turns to populism, Brexit, immigration, or austerity, Europe is at the forefront. The same is true when scholars debate the future of democracy, the stability of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), efforts to combat climate change, or the struggle to maintain a multilateral world order. Europe may be the “old” continent, but it is a constant source of interest, inspiration, innovation, insight, and hope for the future.

Research on Europe has continued to grow as well. You can see this progression in the page budgets, citations, and download statistics for the major European journals. You can also see it in the length and breadth of the publishing lists on Europe from the major university and commercial presses. The professional associations that focus on Europe have widened their memberships, multiplied their conferences and workshops, and expanded their remits. Meanwhile, the range of scholars involved in this activity extends ever more widely beyond the core group that straddles the North Atlantic to a dynamic new community of scholars in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond into China, South and South East Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

From research to engagement

The study of Europe has also never been more important. You can see this importance in the wide-ranging misperceptions of Europe that are held on both sides of the Atlantic, in the polarizing debate that surrounded the British referendum on European Union (EU) membership, in the divisions that emerged across the European continent during the recent economic and financial crisis, and in the reaction of many Europeans to the sudden upsurge in migration from Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Misperceptions often reveal themselves in European relations with China, Russia, and the United States. Caricatures tend to predominate over subtlety or nuance; increasingly, moreover, both popular discourse and public policy-making seems to bend to stereotypes and away from substance.

The challenge now is to take advantage of this new dynamism in the study of Europe to strengthen and inform popular perception and public policy – not just within Europe and among European countries, but throughout Europe’s relations with the outside world (and particularly in the United States and China).