The papers in this much-needed collection employ Applied General Equilibrium methodology to address a wide variety of concerns within the European Union. Contributors examine five main policy areas: * international market integration * policy simulations with alternative treatments of factor markets * policies for carbon dioxide abatement * competitiveness and convergence * VAT and income tax reform.

This book is an accessible introduction to European monetary integration which provides a historical background to current debates, as well as an analysis of future developments. Further features of this book include:
* a chronology of economic and monetary unification from 1958-1999
* clear non-technical presentation of the economic issues regarding the costs and benefits of creating a monetary union
* detailed presentation of the economic and legal framework for the changeover to a single European economy
* evaluation of the Maastricht Treaty's plan for monetary union
* an overview of the debate between the federalist approach and the inter-governmental co-operation approach towards economic and political integration of Europe
* a set of questions and exercises illuminating the more technical parts of the book
European Monetary Integration 1958-2002 is an excellent resource for all those who want to discover the facts about European monetary integration which lie behind the heated political rhetoric.

This book is an accessible introduction to European monetary integration which provides a historical background to current debates, as well as an analysis of future developments. Further features of this book include:
* a chronology of economic and monetary unification from 1958-1999
* clear non-technical presentation of the economic issues regarding the costs and benefits of creating a monetary union
* detailed presentation of the economic and legal framework for the changeover to a single European economy
* evaluation of the Maastricht Treaty's plan for monetary union
* an overview of the debate between the federalist approach and the inter-governmental co-operation approach towards economic and political integration of Europe
* a set of questions and exercises illuminating the more technical parts of the book
European Monetary Integration 1958-2002 is an excellent resource for all those who want to discover the facts about European monetary integration which lie behind the heated political rhetoric.

Mainstreaming Equality in the European Union provides a critical overview and evaluation of the potential role of the EU in perpetuating or breaking down gender segregation in the EU labour force. Teresa Rees draws upon feminist theoretical frameworks in assessing Equal Opportunitues policies and the role of training in the labour market.
The same economic imperatives which put women's training on the agenda have heightened interest in designing training which attracts women into mainstream provision. Mainstreaming Equality in the European Union addresses the urgent need for academics, education and training providers, as well as policy makers to be aware of current thinking at EU level on training policy.

Explores the state of regional politics in an increasingly integrated Europe. The text argues that the predicted rise of increased political power at the regional level has failed to materialize and is fraught with paradox. In doing so this study locates regions in relation to European integration, globalisation, the nation state, local government, and comparative and national perspectives. Using case studies of the main players in Europe including: Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium, the contributors show how and why European regions remain remarkably weak in European governance. Drawing together European scholars, the text should be of interest to those interested in European politics, political economy, nations states and social groups in the new Europe.

Series Information:
Routledge Research in European Public Policy

A detailed analysis of the economic effects of the changeover to a unified European currency and the pressures caused by a dual-currency system over the transition period to the Euro. Subjects discussed include:
* fiscal transfer payments: the implications of the US structure for the EMU
* consequences of parallel currency 1999-2002
* feasibility of a single currency without the exchange rate mechanism
* the relationship between the UK and Europe
* accounts of moves towards monetary union in Austria, Portugal and Finland.

Mainstreaming Equality in the European Union provides a critical overview and evaluation of the potential role of the EU in perpetuating or breaking down gender segregation in the EU labour force. Teresa Rees draws upon feminist theoretical frameworks in assessing Equal Opportunitues policies and the role of training in the labour market.
The same economic imperatives which put women's training on the agenda have heightened interest in designing training which attracts women into mainstream provision. Mainstreaming Equality in the European Union addresses the urgent need for academics, education and training providers, as well as policy makers to be aware of current thinking at EU level on training policy.

The investigation of the internal workings of interest groups opens the view on the behavioural dynamics within these organisations. By analysing their intraorganisational structures, this book explains how groups prepare to become active in the European Union and why we observe contact, conflict and cooperation of interest groups and other political actors in the European arena. The book presents four causal mechanisms which explain, on the one hand, why interest groups engage with contacts across a diverse set of political actors and, on the other hand, why some interest organisations are more actionable at the European level than others. It furthermore elaborates a typology of interest groups along intraorganisational criteria. The analysis of twelve differing case studies provides a rich empirical ground to explain how and why certain intraorganisational processes unfold within interest groups. It thereby sheds light on the behavioural organisational patterns which drive interest group agency in European multi-level politics. This book will be of key interest to students and scholars of interest groups, lobbying, European Union politics and more broadly to public policy/administration and comparative politics.

This book is the first to be dedicated entirely to the European Semester -- a new framework for policy coordination across European Union (EU) member states. The Semester represents a major advancement in EU governance. Created in 2010 in the wake of the financial and sovereign debt crises and revamped in 2015, it was intended to provide a new socio-economic governance architecture to coordinate national policies without transferring legal sovereignty to EU level. The papers in this collection are written by authors who have already contributed to this literature and have conducted original research for their studies. The book offers an empirical and theoretical assessment of the European Semester, examining its implications along three critical axes, running respectively between the economic and the social, the supranational and the intergovernmental, and the technocratic and democratic poles of EU governance. The book concludes that the European Semester challenges established theoretical understandings of EU governance, as it is a prime example of the complexity that supersedes simple polar oppositions. The chapters were originally published in a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.

Jan L. van Zanden in The Economic History of the Netherlands 1914-1995 answers these questions. In the first four chapters the long development of the economy is analysed in detail. Central to this part of the book are the rise (and decline) of managerial enterprise; the growth (and fall) of trade unions; and the expansion (and crisis) of the welfare state. The particular Dutch features of these institutional changes are highlighted. The second part of the book deals with different periods of growth (from 1914-1929, and 1950-1973), and relative stagnation (1929-1950, and 1973-1995). Moreover, van Zanden examines the role the Netherlands played in the process of European integration, and gives an explanation of the success of the 'Dutch job machine' in the 1980s and 1990s.

Industrial relations has traditionally been a national affair, characterized by distinct local laws, practices and cultures. The process of European integration, exemplified by the Single Market Programme, the Maastricht Treaty and the imminent prospect of Economic Monetary Union, has created a framework within which national practices have been exposed to growing cross-border influences - including European Union legislation requiring European Works Councils to be set up in large transnational firms. Might European integration create the basis for a new distinctly European-level of industrial relations? And what impact would this have on exisitng national systems? This volume explores the prospects for the emergence of a distinctly European pattern of industrial relations, in which the European-level organizations representing employers and trade unions gain in importance vis-a-vis their national organisations. In particular, individual contributions analyze the impact of the "Social Chapter" to the Maastricht Treaty, which created a new institutional framework within which European-level employers and trade unions can negotiate.

At the Barcelona Conference in November 1995, the European Union and 12 southern and eastern Mediterranean states established the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP). The initiative is one of the most ambitious external projects ever undertaken by the European Union.

The shock of the vote for Brexit - the UK's 23 June 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union - is being felt in all areas of the UK policy community: in domestic and foreign affairs, in politics, economics and the law. But the IISS is an international institution and Brexit is not just a British phenomenon. Spanning 13 years this collection of articles depict a European project struggling to expand geographically, to deepen institutionally, and to survive in the face of political, economic and security threats worldwide.

"The Politics of Sustainable Development" analyzes how the theory of sustainable development has been related to the practice and how it has been applied within Europe at all levels of government from the EU down to the sub-national local level.
The essays included here begin with an analysis of the ambiguities inherent in sustainable development and the contestable nature of the concept. The contributors explore how far it is possible to reconcile economic growth with environmental needs, asking whether sustainable development can promote equity and development. The book breaks fresh ground in assessing the impact of deep ecological thought on sustainable development as part of a new typology of the concept.
The second section examines how sustainable development has been interpreted at EU and sub-national levels within the member states, with examples drawn from the Mediterranean and Northern European countries. Contrasting interpretations of sustainable development are examined, considering political and administrative conflicts, the influence of cultural factors, and tensions between different levels of government. The ambiguity of sustainable development has led to extensive confusion and created the need for a clearer consensus among policy-makers as to how the concept should be interpreted.

An Historical Introduction to the European Union is a chronological political history of European integration from the 1950s to the present. It also includes a contextualising survey of wider European history since the 1600s, and places unification against a background of world politics.
This clearly written introduction to the essential history, economics and politics of the European Union assumes no prior knowledge. It offers a detailed account of the Union with sections on:
* how the Union works
* basic principles of the Union
* arguments over contested practices, including agriculture
* issues of the cold war, enlargement, and the role of the United States
* language
* single European currency
With an annotated bibliography, chronology and guide to the institutions of the European Union, An Historical Introduction to the European Union incorporates the most recent research and detailed treatment of the policies of the European Union.


eBook available with sample pages: 0203448731

This study explores the formation of the European Union's tax policy and asks why member states did not raise objections to it. Firstly, it examines the "Europeanization" of domestic tax policy in Italy and the UK, asking how domestic policy has changed and what is meant by "Europeanization". Secondly it puts the European Union tax policy in the wider context of tax globalization. Will the liberalization of capital movement, tax havens and the flexibility of multinationals in managing their taxable incomes wreck the European Union's fragile tax policies? In addressing these issues the study finds that knowledge is one of the most important resources in the European corporate tax process. It highlights the political problems raised by the search for rules, principles and appropriate levels of tax co-ordination and concludes that the European Union should re-consider its tax policy with new arguments.

Adapting to European Integration describes how the political institutions in eight small member states and two non-members responded to the internal and external demands springing from the process of European integration in general and EC/EU membership in particular. The study makes a distinction between governmental/administrative adaptation, political adaptation and strategic adaptation. The chapters focus, in the first instance, on the governmental/administrative responses at the level of central government, the organisational adjustments and the changes in institutional capacity to meet the new challenges. The authors also look at the willingness of the political decision-makers to internalise the EC/EU dimension in domestic policy making and the way in which the country's own history as well as the attitude towards European integration facilitate or hinder adaptation and change.

This text provides a comparative study of the political cultures of the countries of Europe, both East and West. It addresses a variety of crucial questions, including: what factors help make nations and states?; what are the main characteristics of national cultures and sub-cultures?; and how do various groups view each other and Europe?;This text explores issues of homomgenization and difference, and it illustrates the dangers of a movement towards ever-closer union which does not take note of the growing populist resistance to "Europe".

This text provides a comparative study of the political cultures of the countries of Europe, both East and West. It addresses a variety of crucial questions, including: what factors help make nations and states?; what are the main characteristics of national cultures and sub-cultures?; and how do various groups view each other and Europe?;This text explores issues of homomgenization and difference, and it illustrates the dangers of a movement towards ever-closer union which does not take note of the growing populist resistance to "Europe".

Can the European Union continue to grow and also converge? Is uniformity within the union desirable? This text provides a comprehensive introduction to the European Union, its identity, problems and prospects. Focusing on the issues of integration and enlargement, the authors examine the major economic, social, environmental and political aspects of the EU, both in terms of its individual regions and as a system of interdependent states that form the single EU entity. Assessment of controversial issues is frank: problems of unemployment, social stress, ageing and the place of women are covered objectively, prompting readers to form their own interpretations. This completely revised and expanded 2nd edition includes new illustrations, data and analysis and coverage of new members Austria, Finland and Sweden.

Can the European Union continue to grow and also converge? Is uniformity within the union desirable? The European Union has grown into a supranational entity formed from a mosaic of diverse regions. Its enlargement to encompass a number of Central European countries seems only a matter of time. With the EU's political and economic importance growing globally, the Union's influence is increasingly being felt within its member states. A geography is emerging with pressures to reduce regional disparities by a process of convergence. This volume provides a comprehensive introduction to the European Union, its identity, problems and prospects. Focusing on the key issues of integration and enlargement, the authors examine the major economic, social, environmental and political aspects of the EU, both in terms of its individual regions and as a system of interdependent states that form the single EU entity. Assessment of controversial issues is frank: problems of unemployment, social stress, ageing and the place of women are covered, prompting readers to form their own interpretations.

The essays collected here outline a number of factors which made the EC too young to be able to assimilate Britain's important interests, and the British over-optimistic in their approach to negotiations with the Community. The role of conflict over Western strategy and European political union in the breakdown of the negotiations is re-assessed, and the negotiations over agriculture and the Commonwealth are revealed in an entirely new light.

The essays collected here outline a number of factors which made the EC too young to be able to assimilate Britain's important interests, and the British over-optimistic in their approach to negotiations with the Community. The role of conflict over Western strategy and European political union in the breakdown of the negotiations is re-assessed, and the negotiations over agriculture and the Commonwealth are revealed in an entirely new light.

At the end of the current millenium the best description of Europe's relations with the developing countries of the South is: all change. Since 1957 the European Community has operated special policies for developing countries, many of which were formerly European colonies. However, neither the policies for Central and South America, the Lome Convention for the African, Caribbean and Pacific States, nor successive policies for the Mediterranean countries reflect a unified Europe.
The European Union and the South begins by investigating the prospects for a common European foreign policy. It argues that Europe has developed a complex web of external relations, but no common foreign policy. In so far as the EU seeks a special world role to overcome its image as political dwarf, the role of champion or partner of the developing South has much to recommend it.
This book presents an up-to-date, scholarly analysis of the foreign and development policy dilemmas facing Europe today. It will be essential reading for students of European external relations, development policy and international affairs.