The Lisbon Agenda as a New Khrushchev Call

The fact that the global scene is becoming more and more competitive and the position of the European Union is increasingly challenged by old and new world powers is a widely recognized fact. The awareness of this constantly growing pressure on the EU, its economic and social systems, in particular from the process of globalization stimulates numerous debates on the future of the continent. European politicians, academic and business communities debate on the ways of improving EU competitiveness, stimulating innovativeness and sustaining growth. New projects, initiatives and directives are launched by EU and national administrations each year with the aim of revitalization of the old continent. In the acacdemic and political debates discussants are looking for new ways and modes of much needed modernization of European economies and societies as well as workings of the institutions of the European Union. This paper is envisaged as voice in the above mentioned debate on modernization of Europe. In particular it is aimed at pointing out at a trap of imitative thinking – a common problem for most peripheral modernization projects. As it seems, Europe is more and more tempted by the simplicity of the imitative thinking, in particular by following the fashionable slogans of discourses of globalization which promise an easy way of facing the future by embracing the principles of the “Knowledge Based Economy” or the “Information Society”. In this context the experience of the Soviet Union modernization efforts are reminded below, as they have been one of the most spectacular examples of a failure caused by excessive reliance on following the fashionable trends of the modernization discourse.