The liberal-democratic foundations of the European nation-state and the challenges of internationalization

This paper inquires as to how the internationalization of politics, society and the economy has affected the liberal-democratic foundations of European nation-states. ‘Europeanization’, the rise of global firms as powerful political actors, international migration within and towards Europe, international terrorism and organized crime as well as the state's responses to these challenges, and the surge of right-wing radicalism and populism are identified as the major forces that tend to put both the democratic and the liberal components of liberal democracies under pressure. Future research should devote more attention to studying the factors determining the extent to which different European countries are affected by the dynamics of internationalization and the relationship between different internationalization-related challenges. Moreover, politics as an academic discipline should be more ambitious about providing some normative guidance to coping with internationalization.