The Europeanization of European politics

Sample

Michael Newman

"The Maastricht Treaty reactivated a long-term debate about the future of the European Union. Does it still make sense to talk of the 'sovereign state', or is power now moving upwards in the direction of a political union and downwards to a regional level? What are the implications of such trends for democracy? Controversy over what is happening and what should happen has engulfed the whole European Union. Yet the arguments are often conducted polemically, and both information and concepts are distorted."--BOOK JACKET. "This book counters misrepresentation by both 'Eurosceptics' and 'Euro-enthusiasts' by examining the issues involved in the sovereignty debates. Written in an accessible style, it examines key questions in democracy, drawing on both traditional concepts of political thought and empirical evidence to elucidate the current situation. It offers critical insights into the EU, and some of the arguments frequently used in its defence. But it rejects the nationalist opposition, and presents a case for a democratic EU which would be worthy of support."--BOOK JACKET. "Specialists, students and all those interested in the future of the European Union will find this a challenging critique of conventional analysis, which provides sufficient information for readers to form their own conclusions."--BOOK JACKET.

Sample

Fiona Hayes-Renshaw and Helen Wallace

Based on the authors' own extensive research and long-standing interest in the Council and its workings, The Council of Ministers provides a comprehensive, up-to-date assessment of the formal and informal roles, functions and processes of the EU's chief decision-making body and the ways these have evolved over time. The book assesses the relationship of the Council to the other major EU institutions and with its member states, and examines the varying analyses, both explicit and implicit, of the Council as an institution and their implications for the future of European political integration. The book looks behind the scenes to illustrate and explain how the Council and its sub-structures operate on a day-to-day basis, and why. Contrary to the perceived wisdom, it argues that the Council performs remarkably effectively, subject to the limits within which it is forced to operate. Those same limits, however, prevent the EU from developing a coherent form of collective government.

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Giuliano Amato, Jacques Ziller

"This book offers a selection of materials that enable a better understanding of some of the most important changes that would be introduced by the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe in the EU legal and political system. It also helps to assess the need for the reforms embedded in the Constitutional Treaty as well as the quality of the formulations agreed upon by the signatory Member States." "The book includes excerpts of the European Convention's work, selected statutory and constitutional provisions of the Member States, and also related passages from pertinent court decisions - from both European courts as well as Member States' constitutional courts. Institutional and doctrinal analyses and relevant excerpts from the Constitutional Treaty itself are also included. Many of these documents directly relate to the provisions of the Constitutional Treaty, while the others, although not directly related, are nevertheless relevant to the debate surrounding it." "The European Constitution will be of great interest to researchers and teachers in the fields of European Law and European politics, and also to policy makers in European affairs."--Jacket.

Sample

Prof Erik O. Eriksen

The widening and deepening of the European Union have brought to the fore the question of democracy at the European level. This book contributes to democratic theory under conditions of globalization and complex interdependence as well as to the understanding of the EU from a democratic point of view.