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Both the ideals of the European Union (EU) and the EU's recent political difficulties have attracted comparison with the Habsburg empire. In recent years, some of those making comparison have turned to the Austrian Jewish novelists, Stefan Zweig and Joseph Roth, who were crucial to the imaginative emergence of the Habsburg Myth. This paper analyses their writings and those of Robert Musil and Gregor von Rezzori in relation to the Habsburg Myth as a story about European unity, about Austria-Hungary as a supranational polity and about Austria-Hungary's self-proclaimed providential purpose in European affairs. It explores the dissonance between the Habsburg Myth and the EU's territorial composition and argues that the Habsburg Myth is, nonetheless, revealing about the EU's internal hierarchies and its geopolitical difficulties in relation to Russia.

FROM everywhere there are reports of increased issues of books from libraries. The famine in copies no doubt accounts in part for it and, probably, there is also what is almost a resurgence of effort after knowledge amongst young men and women who are endeavouring in many fields of work to recover some of the losses of the war years. We cannot recall at any time when so much hard grinding study was being done as now. Pessimists about youth and juvenile delinquency (which however is incidental to a much younger age than that we are contemplating) would do well to reflect upon this fact. Whatever the cause, the immediate prospects for libraries in universities, works, and social institutions of every sort were never brighter. We know that certain types of “economist” of the faded “retrenchment and reform” type say the situation is temporary and artificial but, even if it is, and we are by no means acquiescent in this opinion, much ground may be won and held from any temporary good period. We think librarianship, under the present leadership of the Library Association, may be able to consolidate the position both for public and for other kinds of libraries. The Association was never better led than since the war; it has had remarkably statesmenlike presidents, an active council and an Honorary Secretary who for constructive capacity, vision, literary skill and fearlessness, combined with an energy and industry that leaves most of his contemporaries breathless, has not been surpassed; and he is backed by a Staff that rises to the ever‐increasing demands of the service. We are glad to write this last sentence, for Secretary Welsford has to cover many duties and serve many causes: receive and entertain the Association's guests from overseas; look after meetings; the educational services which now are very great; attend to the troubles of librarians everywhere and advise in them about matters ranging from salaries to ethics; our publications, accounts, catering, interviewing, negotiating with public departments and other bodies. As for the meetings of the Council and its committees, we are told, not by Mr. Welsford who knows nothing of this note, that its reports and papers ran in March alone to 200 foolscap typed pages! Of course Mr. Welsford has an excellent staff which assists him with real live interest. The time has come, however, as our readers now know, when special senior officers to deal with Membership and Education respectively are to be appointed to work side by side with the Librarian, the excellent Mr. Henrik Jones (who never fails the searcher, even the youngest, and seems to know what we are all doing) to carry “at a high level” some of the burdens. Annual Reports are not always read but we were drawn to these reflections by the recently issued Report of the Library Association for the year. We commend it to those who are inclined to leave it unread.

How should we make sense of Europe's current malaise? Focused on the great recession, the European Union (EU)'s architecture, or diverging national interests, the literature offers useful economic, institutional, and political explanations. It is our contention that, however diverse, these works share one important limitation: a tendency to focus on rather immediate causes and consequences and not to step back with historical or comparative perspectives to gain a “longer” view of the dynamics at work. In this article, we begin by examining parallels between the EU's current conditions and the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Then, introducing the articles contained in this special issue, we raise research questions pertaining to long-term historical, social, cultural, economic, and political factors. Are the current challenges unprecedented or do they have roots or connections to past events and developments? Is there a European trajectory into which we can contextualize current events? Are there bright spots, and what do they suggest about Europe's present and future? To engage in such questions, the papers leverage the insights of historical and comparative sociology, as well as comparative politics. In so doing, they offer analyses that see the EU as an instance of state formation. They propose that a key dimension of tension and possible resolution is the classic problem of sovereignty. They grapple with the question of identity and institutions, exploring in that context the extent and limit of citizens' support for more Europe. And they delve into the nature of the nationalist and populist sentiments within and across European countries.

In the knowledge economy, greater togetherness is the prerequisite for innovating and having more: selflessness extends scope while selfishness increases limitations. But human beings are not automatically attracted to innovation: between the two lies culture and cultural values vary widely, with the egoistic accent or the altruistic intonation setting the scene. In the representations of open innovation we submit to the reader’s attention, selfishness and selflessness are active in the cultural space.

Popularized in the early 2000s, open innovation is a systematic process by which ideas pass among organizations and travel along different exploitation vectors. With the arrival of multiple digital transformative technologies and the rapid evolution of the discipline of innovation, there was a need for a new approach to change, incorporating technological, societal and policy dimensions. Open Innovation 2.0 (OI2) – the result of advances in digital technologies and the cognitive sciences – marks a shift from incremental gains to disruptions that effect a great step forward in economic and social development. OI2 seeks the unexpected and provides support for the rapid scale-up of successes.

‘Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come’ – this thought, attributed to Victor Hugo, tells us how a great deal is at stake with open innovation. Amidon and other scholars have argued that the twenty-first century is not about ‘having more’ but about ‘being more’. The promise of digital technologies and artificial intelligence is that they enable us to extend and amplify human intellect and experience. In the so-called experience economy, users buy ‘experiences’ rather than ‘services’. OI2 is a paradigm about ‘being more’ and seeking innovations that bring us all collectively on a trajectory towards sustainable intelligent living.