The Making of the European Union argues that the process of European integration has drifted into serious crisis, perhaps the most serious since the Danes voted against the Treaty of the European Union in 1992. Analysing the conditions for European integration, this book applies a citizens' or 'bottom-up' perspective on the integration process. The difficulties that the constitutional process has encountered illustrate the relevance of bringing public opinion into the analysis of the prospects for European integration. The book describes and analyses the historical, mental, intellectual , and attitudinal denominators of European integration, denominators that have shaped the processes so far and will continue to do so in the future. The authors apply a broad comparative perspective, where European nation-states constitute the primary units of analysis. The focus is on the foundations of European integration, public views about the EU, including various shades of Euroscepticism, and the long-term prospects of the EU. This book will appeal to a wide audience including scholars and researchers in the social sciences - particularly political science, comparative politics and European studies. The book will also be of great interest to journalists and all those involved in the EU, including policy makers and civil servants throughout the EU itself.
Foundations of European Politics: A Comparative Approach offers an accessible introduction to European politics using a coherent comparative and analytical framework. It presents students with the basic theoretical and empirical toolkit of social scientific researchers, and explains how ananalytic approach can be used to understand both domestic and EU-level policy-making in Europe.The book draws on cutting edge research from all areas of European politics - from national and EU institutions, to political behaviour and policy-making - and uses case studies and examples throughout to help students compare different electoral systems, parties and governments across Europe.The book is structured thematically in five parts, beginning with theoretical foundations; moving on to examine citizens and voters, elections and parties, governments and policy; and finally covering the rule of law, democracy and backsliding.Digital formats and resourcesFoundations of European Politics: A Comparative Approach is available for students and institutions to purchase in a variety of formats, and is supported by online resources.DT The e-book offers a mobile experience and convenient access along with functionality tools, navigation features and links that offer extra learning support: www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/ebooks http://www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/ebooksDT Online resources for students include: multiple choice questions, web links, essay questions, and data descriptions and data exercises.DT Online resources for lecturers include: adaptable PowerPoint slides, test bank questions, figures and tables from the book.
In this book, Miles Kahler examines both global and regional institutions and their importance in the world economy. Kahler explains the variation in these institutions and assesses the role they play in sustaining economic cooperation among nations.
Far from displaying a uniform pattern of integration, the European Union varies significantly across policy areas, institutional development and individual countries. Why do some policies such as the Single Market attract non-EU member states, while some member states choose to opt out of other EU policies? In answering these questions, this innovative new text provides a state-of-the-art introduction to the study of European integration. The authors introduce the most important theories of European integration and apply these to the trajectories of key EU policy areas – including the single market, monetary policy, foreign and security policy, and justice and home affairs. Arguing that no single theory offers a completely convincing explanation of integration and differentiation in the EU, the authors put forward a new analytical perspective for describing and explaining the institutions and policies of the EU and their development over time. Written by a team of prominent scholars in the field, this thought-provoking book provides a new synthesis of integration theory and an original way of thinking about what the EU is and how it works.
The European Union of today cannot be studied as it once was. This original new textbook provides a much-needed update on how the EU's policies and institutions have changed in light of the multiple crises and transformations since 2010. An international team of leading scholars offer systematic accounts on the EU's institutional regime, policies, and its community of people and states. Each chapter is structured to explain the relevant historical developments and institutional framework, presenting the key actors, the current controversies and discussing a paradigmatic case study. Each chapter also provides ideas for group discussions and individual research topics. Moving away from the typical, neutral account of the functioning of the EU, this textbook will stimulate readers' critical thinking towards the EU as it is today. It will serve as a core text for undergraduate and graduate students of politics and European studies taking courses on the politics of the EU, and those taking courses in comparative politics and international organizations including the EU.
The European Union beyond the Polycrisis? explores the political dynamics of multiple crises faced by the EU, both at European level and within the member states. In so doing, it provides a state-of-the-art overview of current research on the relationship between politicization and European integration. The book proposes that the EU’s multi-dimensional crisis can be seen as a multi-level ‘politics trap’, from which the Union is struggling to escape. The individual contributions analyze the mechanisms of this trap, its relationship to the multiple crises currently faced by the EU, and the strategies pursued by a plurality of actors (the Commission, the European Parliament, national governments) to cope with its constraints. Overall, the book suggests that comprehensive, ‘grand’ bargains are for the moment out of reach, although national and supranational actors can find ways of ‘relaxing’ the politics trap and in so doing perhaps lay the foundations for more ambitious future solutions. This book, dedicated to the exploration of the political dynamics of multiple, simultaneous crises, offers an empirical and theoretical assessment of the existing political constraints on European integration. Analysing domestic and European political reactions to the EU’s polycrisis and assessing how EU institutions, national governments and broader publics have responded to a new era of politicization, The European Union beyond the Polycrisis? will be of great interest to scholars of European politics and the EU, as well as professionals working in EU institutions, national administrations and European advocacy groups. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.
Identifies the major weaknesses in the current United Nations system and proposes fundamental reforms to address each. This title is also available as Open Access.
This book in addition of being remarkable academic reading contributes, on the highest scholarly level, to the furthering of our understanding of performance of the EU institutions which is essential for practitioners and researchers in the midst of the institutional crisis. Dominik Vuleti , Croatian International Relations Review . . . an impressively detailed introduction to the institutions and committees that form the core frameworks of EU activities including the EU Parliament, the European Central Bank, and the effects of EU membership expansion. The Institutions of the Enlarged European Union is very strongly recommended as an addition to governmental and university library International Studies reference collections in general, and European Union Studies supplemental reading lists in particular. Midwest Book Review The International Studies Shelf This excellent book in the series of studies on EU reform and enlargement is not as dry as it first appears. . . The contributors outline the key changes as well as patterns of continuity in the institutional policies of the EU and their research which I feel will be highly beneficial to lawyers, economists and politicians. . . I found the book to be invaluable for postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students of EU politics and administrative science, as well as researchers, practitioners and journalists working in the fields of European studies more widely. Phillip Taylor, The Barrister This timely, comprehensive and authoritative study provides much food for thought for European policy makers, particularly in the current situation of uncertainty about the Lisbon Treaty. The authors basically upbeat findings that, despite the arrival of twelve new member states in one big bang and one after shock, it has been pretty much business as usual for the EU s institutions will comfort both those who worried about the EU s capacity to act in the absence of institutional reform and those who argued that such reform was unnecessary. But the editors identify a number of emerging dynamics that will be of concern to all who care about the Union s democratic future: increasing formalisation of meetings and procedures on the one hand, coupled with an increase in informal, pre-cooked deals on the other; increasing primacy of the administrative over the political; and a growing trend towards presidentialisation within the institutions, with continued efficiency requiring more emphasis on the primus than on the pares . The editors conclude that, while the European Union s institutional system continues to function and might even become more efficient, the price to be paid could further distance the Union from the citizens it seeks to serve. Martin Westlake, Secretary General, European Economic and Social Committee, Brussels, Belgium This volume reports a thorough appraisal of how the EU institutions have fared since the 2004 enlargement. In essence the answer is more of the same, with no evidence of gridlock. Business has been conducted in similar ways and at similar levels of output, helped by procedural adaptation. The new member states have slotted into the existing routines of the Union. Helen Wallace, European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK How have the main institutions and decision-making processes of the EU responded to the arrival of new member states? This book assesses the actual state of the EU institutions in the years after the 2004 enlargement, examining each of the main institutional actors as well as trends in legislative output, implementing measures and non-legislative approaches. The contributors outline the key changes as well as patterns of continuity in the institutional politics of the EU. The analysis finds that breakdown has been avoided by a combination of assimilation of the new member states and adaptation of the system, without any fundamental transformation of the institutions. Nonetheless, they conclude that it
The Performance of the EU in International Institutions marks one of the first attempts to systematically analyse the subject. It focuses on the role of the EU in decision-making within international organizations and regimes as a major locus of global governance. The book unpacks the concept of EU performance into four core elements: effectiveness (goal achievement); efficiency (ratio between outputs accomplished and costs incurred); relevance (of the EU for its priority stakeholders); and financial/resource viability (the ability of the performing organization to raise the funds required). Based on the case studies herein, the findings presented in this book relate to the identified core elements of performance with a particular emphasis on the dimensions of 'effectiveness' and 'relevance'. Most notably, the EU appears, on balance and over the past two decades, to have become much more relevant for its member states when acting within international institutions. The book highlights four particular factors explaining EU performance in international institutions: the status of relevant EU legislation and policies, the legal framework conditions including the relevant changes that the Lisbon Treaty has brought about, domestic EU politics, and the international context. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration
