The European Union in an Illiberal World

The European Union (EU) has in many ways been the most thorough creation of the international liberal order, and its upending – especially by the EU's historical ally the US – poses a multi-dimensional challenge to the Union. The immediate security and trade threats are obvious enough. But more challenging still are the rise of nationalism and great power geopolitics, historical forces which the whole European project has been designed to overcome. Moreover, the rise of illiberalism across the globe also profoundly threatens international cooperation in absolutely vital areas like climate change and biodiversity, as well as more on prosaic issues like finance and artificial intelligence. This e-book is the follow-up publication to an online conference organised by the Global Governance Research Group of the UNA Europa university alliance, which took place in June 2025. It brings together a wide range of contributions which seek to address the complex internal and external challenges of illiberalism to the EU, along with the Union's capacities and failures in dealing with these.