The new edition of this best-selling text provides the most up-to-date single volume history of the European Union from its origins through to the present day. Fully updated and revised throughout, this is the ideal starting point for students and others wishing to read an accessible, readable and comprehensive account of the development of the EU. Topics new to this edition: The impact of the Euro and economic and monetary union. Analysis of post-9/11 splits in the EU over Afghanistan and Iraq, and debates on the New European security order and the threat posed by terrorism. The enlargement of the EU to 27 members and discussions over further expansion. The initial failure of the EU Constitutional Treaty. The growth in Euroscepticism across the continent. An engaging contribution to the understanding of the past, present and uncertain future of European integration, European Union is essential reading for all students of European history, European Union politics, and International Relations.

The book examines the integration of European trade union movement and explores the prospects for European or transnational solidarity among workers.

Contrary to much existing research and despite national differences, Gajewska examines how trade unions cooperate and the forms in which this cooperation take place. Drawing on four case studies illustrating experiences of Polish, German, British, Latvian and Swedish trade unions in various sectors and workers representatives at a multinational company, this book investigates the conditions under which trade unions and workers formulate their interests in non-national / regional terms, and analyzes the character, limits and potentials of solidarity in a transnational context.

Seeking to generate a new theory of European integration of labour and to contribute to sociological approaches on the European integration and Europeanization of society, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of European politics, European integration, labour/industrial relations, trade unionism and sociology.

The role of regions in the European Union has been frequently debated since the 1980s. This comprehensive book provides a thorough overview of the issue from a variety of perspectives, analysing regional governance and territorial dynamics in the EU and its member states. Focusing on the implications of the democratisation-regionalisation nexus, it argues that a 'Europe with the regions' may promote good governance and ameliorate the democratic deficits of the EU. The book's contributions offer a multidisciplinary approach to the study of governance in the EU and highlight the significance of regions and regionalisation for the EU's future. Through a combination of empirical, conceptual, theoretical and normative approaches, chapters address both intra-state and transnational developments to provide a fresh and exciting addition to the literature on new regionalism and democratic theory. Favouring a modest notion of a 'Europe with the regions' rather than the dominant maximalist vision, it embeds these developments in the ongoing debate about the future of the EU. Students and academics exploring regional governance and the EU will find this book's unique conclusions and crucial insights of great value. The book's distinct perspective on European governance will also be of benefit to policy-makers and EU think-tanks.

This clear and engaging text examines the process and politics of the European UnionOs OEasternO enlargement, beginning with its initial response to the 1989 revolution up through the Helsinki summit decisions of December 1999. Michael Baun explores such topics as the EUOs original decision to enlarge, the pre-accession strategy for prospective members, the key political decisions on launching and expanding the accession negotiations, and the actual progress of the negotiations. He also examines the EUOs efforts to reform its policies and institutions in advance of enlargement. Throughout, Baun weaves in understandable explanations of the complex multilevel process of EU decisionmaking. He concludes by considering the limits of enlargement and its consequences for the EUOs future development.

This book provides a detailed examination of the complex negotiation processes surrounding intergovernmental conferences in the European Union.

Since the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) and its ?appendix?, the Treaty of Nice in 2002, any reform of the treaty framework of the European Union seems to be doomed to fail, evidenced by the decline of the Constitutional Treaty and by the current fate of the Lisbon treaty. By presenting an extensive quantitative study of the Intergovernmental Conference of 1996/7 prior to the Treaty of Amsterdam, the authors argue that these negotiations reveal the major challenges of European integration. Drawing on advanced statistical methods, they contend that multi-level negotiations require an appropriate coordination of informal administrative networks and the empowerment of administrative leadership, with these factors significantly shaping the dynamics and outcomes of negotiations. Through these findings, this book lays down the foundation for future evidence-based evaluations of negotiations and implementation studies, and delivers new insights on decision-making within the European Union.

European Union Intergovernmental Conferences will be of interest to students and researchers of political science, sociology, administrative science, business and management studies, international law and European law.

Brilliantly witty and full of irreverent fun, this is a tongue-in-cheek look at Europe by leading cartoonist Kipper Williams, whose work regularly appears in the Guardian and The Spectator. From Brussels red tape to tax-dodging corporations, from batty nationalists to plotting Europhiles, from Mrs Merkel to Her Majesty: Kipper Williams finds all the ingredients for comedy in the great Euro debate. He covers international events (Greece's financial troubles, the refugee crisis) and more local issues (the PM's rivalry with Boris Johnson and, of course, the 2016 referendum on Brexit), not to mention the more bizarre and ludicrous sides of the EU and British attitudes to our neighbours across the Channel.

In May 2004, eight former communist states in Central and Eastern Europe acceded to the European Union.

This new book examines the Eastern expansion of the EU through a tripartite structure, developing an empirical, conceptual and institutional analysis to provide a rounded and substantive account of EU enlargement, with new theoretical insights. The foreword is by written by Pat Cox, former president of the European Parliament.

John O'Brennan also explores:

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• why the EU decided to expand its membership
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• what factors drove this process forward?
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• how did the institutional environment of the EU influence enlargement outcomes?
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In this context he comprehensively covers the role of the European Council, Commission and Parliament.

This important volume will of great interest to students and scholars of European politics and European Union studies.

First published in 2008 and based on an innovative framework for analysing the EU's external politics, this paperback edition provides a historical overview of and theoretical conclusions about the EU's global role. Taking an original approach, the volume highlights the expanding political science literature on Europe's international role in a range of external policy domains. It focuses in particular on the 'soft' dimension of Europe's international action which has previously been much neglected. Carefully structured to make this ideal supplementary reading for students and scholars of European politics and foreign policy, the book will equally appeal to a wider audience in political economy, security policy and international relations more generally.

This book offers a topical inquiry into the legal and political limits of EU regulation in the field of risk and new technologies surrounded by techno-scientific complexity, uncertainty, and societal contestation. It uses agricultural biotechnology as a paradigmatic example to illustrate the complex intertwinement between environmental, public health, economic and social concerns in risk regulation. Weimer analyses the drawbacks of the EU approach to agricultural biotechnology showing that its reductionism, i.e. the narrow understanding of GMO risks as well as the exclusion of broader societal concerns related to environmental and social sustainability, has undermined both the legitimacy and effectiveness of EU regulation in this area. Resistance to this approach however has also triggered legal innovations prompting us to re-think EU internal market law, including the way in which it manages the tensions between unity and diversity, and between social and economic concerns. This text offers fresh and original insights into how far the EU can go in harmonizing regulatory approaches to risk. At the same time, it proposes new ways of re-thinking EU risk regulation to make it more responsive to different perspectives on risk and technology. A unique feature of this book is that it contributes to various strains of scholarship including risk regulation, internal market law, public administration, and studies of governance and regulation, as well as connecting these themes to broader debates about the legitimacy of European integration and new ways of differentiated integration. As a result it assists in re-imagining the EU internal market and its regulation as a site of diversity.

Who really participates in the European policy process? Do organized outsiders have a clear advantage in gaining access to decision-making? If so, with what consequences? This study, based on a range of case studies of regulatory and industrial policies by a multinational team of authors, argues that the European policy process provides access points for a wide variety of interests - firms, national trade associations, European sectoral and peak associations, clubs of big business, and 'civic' interests - alongside the battalions of officials from the member states. The interplay between these organized interests, the member governments, and the European institutions, fostered partly by the Commission in its roles of policy initiator and arbitrator, but anticipated also in the bargaining process of the Council of Ministers, produces some policy outcomes that are different from those in national settings. In particular, the case for liberalization and privatization is often strengthened. The emerging patterns of European governance are thus starting to change the characteristics of the European political economy.

This book explores and analyses the multidimensional influence the European Union exerts in the world, focusing on its contribution to regional and global governance.

Presenting a multidisciplinary approach with contributions by a panel of outstanding scholars from political science, economics, legal studies, philosophy and history, the book examines the EU as global player and international power in the making. The book is divided into three parts:

• Part I examines the influence of the EU as such on global governance, considering the Euro, the common market, the modernization policies for a knowledge society and its global role as both a multinational and regional democratic political system
• Part 2 focuses on the EU's external policies, including trade; humanitarian aid; the environment; climate change, migration, terrorism, crime and EU foreign policy
• Part 3 explores the EU as a global actor in the making and looks at issues including enlargement and the EU's neighbourhood policy; inter-regionalism; it critically addresses the weight of the historical legacies of Europe in the world and its cosmopolitan perspectives as well

The European Union and Global Governance will be of vital interest to students and scholars of European Politics, International Relations, and European Studies.

International demand for military crisis-management missions continues to grow and demand for troops continues to outstrip supply. Like other Western democracies, European Union member states, because of their wealth, relative military competence and commitment to human rights, bear a particular responsibility to expand the international community s capacity for action. But while the EU has succeeded in defining a complex military-technical and political-strategic framework to boost its role and that of its member states in crisis management, its performance so far has fallen well short of its ambitions.

This paper analyses what the EU wants to be able to do militarily its level of ambition and contrasts this aspiration with the current reality. To explain the gap between the two, the paper examines national ambitions and performance across the EU and analyses their domestic determinants using the examples of Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom. The paper concludes by suggesting that the EU might need to strike a new balance between the inclusiveness and the effectiveness of its activities in this area if it wants to increase its military crisis-management performance and live up to its declared ambitions.

This book explores and analyses the multidimensional influence the European Union exerts in the world, focusing on its contribution to regional and global governance.

Presenting a multidisciplinary approach with contributions by a panel of outstanding scholars from political science, economics, legal studies, philosophy and history, the book examines the EU as global player and international power in the making. The book is divided into three parts:

• Part I examines the influence of the EU as such on global governance, considering the Euro, the common market, the modernization policies for a knowledge society and its global role as both a multinational and regional democratic political system
• Part 2 focuses on the EU s external policies, including trade; humanitarian aid; the environment; climate change, migration, terrorism, crime and EU foreign policy
• Part 3 explores the EU as a global actor in the making and looks at issues including enlargement and the EU s neighbourhood policy; inter-regionalism; it critically addresses the weight of the historical legacies of Europe in the world and its cosmopolitan perspectives as well

The European Union and Global Governance will be of vital interest to students and scholars of European Politics, International Relations, and European Studies.

Europe is at a major crossroads in its post-World War II history. The European Union (EU) has not only successfully adopted the euro as a common currency but it also stands upon the threshold of including twelve more member states. In this comprehensive volume, Peter Coffey, author of The Future of Europe (Edward Elgar, 1995), examines the major issues and challenges facing Europe and presents a concise and up-to-date analysis of the economic, political and social issues facing the EU on the eve of its impending enlargement. The book is divided into five parts, with Part One analyzing issues surrounding the enlargement of the EU including criteria for membership, negotiations with candidate countries, and possible implications. Part Two covers the euro and the EMU. In Part Three the author examines the major areas of reform - institutional as well as policy - and sets forth his own proposals for future policy changes. Part Four reviews the European Convention, while Part Five looks to the future of Europe. Also included are official documents on European unification that are often difficult to obtain.In conclusion, the author foresees that the EU will, at least for some time, become a confederation of nation states, rather than a federation as desired by some EU members. This timely book is a must read for students and scholars of European studies, as well as political leaders and those with business interests in Europe.

This volume casts a fresh look on how the political spaces of the Western Balkan states (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania) are shaped, governed and transformed during the EU accession process. The contributors argue that EU conditionality in the Western Balkans does not work 'effectively' in terms of social change because rule transfer remains a 'contested' business, due to veto-players on the ground and strong legacies of the past. The volume examines specific policy areas, salient in the enlargement process and to a different degree incorporated in the accession criteria, as well as EU foreign policy in the spheres of post-conflict stabilisation, democratization and the rule of law promotion.

Many international and supranational organisations have lately been busy modernising their internal administration. But nowhere has management change received a similar amount of attention than in the case of the European Commission. Although the perception prevails that the Commission has been losing out in recent years, this vivid interest, academic as well as public, in the so-called Kinnock reform suggests that this organisation still remains "at the heart of the Union". The proposition of this book thus is simple. If it remains true that the Commission is an essential part within the (admittedly complex) equation of EU policy-making, changes of the administration basis of this actor are likely to have broader implications. Consequently, this special issue poses three crucial questions about the recent administrative reform of the European Commission: why was such a comprehensive reform possible, what are its specific implications for the Commission as an organisation and what is the likely impact for the policy process? In short, this book puts the organisational base of EU policy-making centre stage. In the quest for answers the authors of the subsequent chapters take distinct perspectives, use various research strategies and methods, and attempt to solve diverse empirical puzzles. But all attempt to add to our understanding of this organisational base, and how to systematically study it. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.

This volume provides a comprehensive account of the European Union's social role in the world, assessing the EU's ability to shape the social aspect of globalization from both law and political science perspectives. Focusing explicitly on the EU, the authors address the extent of coherence between the Union's international social objectives compared with the activities of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and with other EU foreign policy goals. Various dimensions of Europe's global social role are addressed, including: the social dimension of EU trade relations the involvement of civil society in EU development policies the linkage between the EU's internal and external 'social model' the export of Europe's social acquis through enlargement and neighbourhood policies the EU's international position on health, gender equality, children's rights, and corporate social responsibility the role of the Union in the ILO The European Union and the Social Dimension of Globalization will be of strong interest to students and researchers in EU studies, Globalization studies, and Social Policy.

This volume seeks to explore the complex relationship between the European Union and International Organizations, and to fill a remarkably wide gap in existing literature on the topic.

Analysing the way in which the EU engages in some of the most important international organizations, this book outlines a framework for analysis within this thriving subject of study. By demonstrating how the EU supports 'effective multilateralism' and global governance, as well as furthering developments within foreign policy, this volume adopts a novel perspective on the EU as an international player. Seeking to move the focus of study beyond the European Union as itself an international organization, contributors set out to demonstrate EU aspirations to act within international organizations. The volume's key features include:

• the first comprehensive study on this topic
• eight case studies of the EU, including its role within the UN, WTO, NATO, and the ICC
• contributions from both internationally renowned political scientists and economists

The European Union and International Organizations will be of vital interest to students and scholars of international relations, European Politics, Political Science, and International Organisations. It will also be of interest to a wider readership including policy makers, diplomats, and journalists.

Over the past two decades, opportunities for NGOs to engage in collective action have increased tremendously. NGOs are no longer confined to the national level but also enjoy access to the regional and international level and are present at the United Nations, lobby policy-makers in the European Union and are making their way into economic institutions, such as the World Bank or the World Trade Organization. While the ever-growing number of governmental organizations presents non-state actors with unprecedented choices for engagement, it also poses new challenges. They need to adapt to the highly idiosyncratic structures of these organizations. Comparing non-governmental organizations in the United Nations and the European Union across a range of different issue areas, this book examines how the choice of venue and institution affects the actions and strategies of NGOs. In this volume two major international organizations are compared: the United Nations and the European Union. Both organizations are increasingly sought out by non-governmental organizations and exhibit interesting differences with respect to their institutional structure, scope, membership, culture and rules. To ascertain the effects of these institutional variations, the authors contrast NGO activities in both organizations across environment, human and women's rights - issue areas where NGOs have been argued to be more prominent - as well as socio-economics and security - issue areas where NGOs have been less visible.

Secrecy is a prevalent feature of politics within and among liberal democratic states, as well as in the relations between states and international organisations. However, surprisingly little research in political science has explored the effects of secrecy on policy making; the evolution of the regulatory frameworks that govern the use of secrecy; and the tensions between secrecy and transparency. This fascinating volume examines secrecy in European politics across a range of EU and national settings and policy domains, exploring the technological, social and political developments which appear to signal the end of privacy and the rapid expansion of political secrecy in European multi-level settings. Consequently, the tensions between democratic accountability with its transparency requirements, and political secrecy, which is typically justified on grounds of effectiveness of state action, have become more marked and more politicised. Engaging with these developments, the authors focus on actors' motivations in secret politics; institutional perspectives that highlight contestation over secrecy norms; and organisational perspectives that emphasise the diversity of secrecy cultures. This book will be of great interest to students, researchers and professionals of political science and law. It was originally published as a special issue of the journal West European Politics.

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.

Does the European Union need closer fiscal integration, and in particular a stronger fiscal centre, to become more resilient to economic shocks? This book looks at the experience of 13 federal states to help inform the heated debate on this issue. It analyses in detail their practices in devolving responsibilities from the subnational to the central level, compares them to those of the European Union, and draws lessons for a possible future fiscal union in Europe. More specifically, this book tries to answer three sets of questions: What is the role of centralized fiscal policies in federations, and hence the size, features and functions of the central budget? What institutional arrangements are used to coordinate fiscal policy between the federal and subnational levels? What are the links between federal and subnational debt, and how have subnational financing crises been handled, when they occurred? These policy questions are critical in many federations, and central to the current discussions about future paths for the European Union. This book brings to the table new, practical insights through a systematic and comprehensive comparison of the EU fiscal framework with that of federal states. It also departs from the decentralization perspective that has been prominent in the literature by focusing on the role of the centre (which responsibilities are centralized at the federal level and how they are handled, rather than which functions belong to the local level). Such an approach is particularly relevant for the European Union, where a fiscal union would imply granting new powers to the centre.

How do Muslim citizens across the globe perceive the European Union? And what factors influence their EU attitudes? This book offers the first systematic theoretical and empirical analysis of Muslim citizens' EU attitudes in and outside the European Union. Using the best empirical data available, the book demonstrates that Muslim citizens' attitudes are not shaped by their denomination and religious beliefs, but by material and political considerations. It finds that Muslims are most favourable toward the EU due to their positive experiences in European contexts, whereas in contrast, Muslim citizens outside the EU are more skeptical toward the European Union due to sovereignty concerns and the lack of support from the EU and its member states. Such findings not only contribute to the research on social legitimacy of international organizations and international public opinion more generally, but also provide important suggestions for (European) policy makers regarding external and domestic policies. This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners of European Union politics, Middle East studies, public opinion and International Relations.

Focusing on paradoxes and tensions of European legal integration, this book investigates four complex and inherently contradictory processes - constitutionalization and democratization, institution-building and market-making, cross-cultural communication and European discourse, and cultural exceptionalism and normalization - to offer a new framework for understanding contemporary European integration. The volume features contributions from some of the biggest names in European legal philosophy, to include Neil MacCormick, Yves Dezalay and Bryant Garth, Pierre Legrand, Heikki Mattila and David Nelken. It presents a timely, interdisciplinary approach to an important and topical area and will be of interest to those concerned with the place of socio-legal processes, language and culture in the continuous advancement of the EU project.

The process of European integration has had a marked influence on the nature and meaning of citizenship in national and post-national contexts as well as on the definition and exercise of civil rights across Member States. This original edited collection brings together insights from EU law, human rights and comparative constitutional law to address this underexplored nexus. Split into two distinct thematic parts, it first evaluates relevant frameworks of civil rights protection, with special attention on enforcement mechanisms and the role of civil society organisations. Next, it engages extensively with a series of individual rights connected to EU citizenship. Comprising detailed studies on access to nationality, the right to free movement, non-discrimination, family life, data protection and the freedom of expression, this book maps the expanding role of European law in the national sphere. It identifies a number of challenges to core civil rights that the current supranational framework is at pains to address. The contributors suggest and develop several new ideas on how to take the EU integration project forward. Civil Rights and EU Citizenship provides an innovative perspective on both the conceptual dimensions and the actual realities of rights-based citizenship which will be of interest to legal scholars, practitioners and policy-makers alike. Contributors include: S. Adamo, P.J. Blanco, S. de Vries, H. de Waele, T. Dudek, M.-P. Granger, K. Irion, A.E. Menendez, J. Morijn, P. Phoa, O. Salat, H. van Eijken, J.G. Vega