The Oxford Handbook of Italian Politics provides a comprehensive look at the political life of one of Europe's most exciting and turbulent democracies. Under the hegemonic influence of Christian Democracy in the early post-World War II decades, Italy went through a period of rapid growth and political transformation. In part this resulted in tumult and a crisis of governability; however, it also gave rise to innovation in the form of Eurocommunism and new forms of political accommodation. The great strength of Italy lay in its constitution; its great weakness lay in certain legacies of the past. Organized crime - popularly but not exclusively associated with the mafia - is one example. A self-contained and well entrenched 'caste' of political and economic elites is another. These weaknesses became apparent in the breakdown of political order in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This ushered in a combination of populist political mobilization and experimentation with electoral systems design, and the result has been more evolutionary than transformative. Italian politics today is different from what it was during the immediate post-World War II period, but it still shows many of the influences of the past.

Based on an innovative theoretical framework combining theories of EU policy making, negotiation and implementation, this comprehensive book examines EU climate and energy policies from the early 1990s until the adoption of new policies for 2030. The authors investigate how the linking of climate and energy concerns in policy packages has facilitated agreement among EU leaders with very different policy ambitions. Employing in-depth studies from a diverse range of energy-economic countries, the book also explores the impact of the implementation of policies on the climate and energy policy framework and the Energy Union initiative. Social scientists and researchers in EU climate and energy policies will find the new empirical data and theoretical approach useful to their work. Students of the social sciences and politics will also benefit from the accessible overview of EU climate and energy policy development. This book will also be of interest to private and public decision-makers looking for explanations for the causes and consequences of EU climate and energy policy development.

Cross-border cooperation is integral to the peace-building objective of the EU. Yet, 25 years of such cooperation has often failed to translate into connecting people across borders. This study assesses the significance of cross-border cooperation for addressing Europe's conflict wounds and examines its prospects in an enlarged EU of 28 members.

This book explores how the multiplicity of nationalist parties across the European Union have embraced or refused the process of European integration and made it a platform for transnational coordination in the European arena. The author analyzes how opposing pro-European minority nationalist parties and Eurosceptic populist nationalist parties have diversely politicized European integration over the past three decades and engage in different patterns of Europeanization. Tracing their divergent trajectories of transnational coordination, the book examines the common challenges these opposing nationalist party families face and their systematic fragmentation in the European arena. The book offers a novel approach to understanding the conditions for the emergence of truly European nationalist party families, based on the interaction of ideological, strategic and institutional variables that underpin the Europeanization of heterogeneous nationalisms. Nationalisms in the European Arena will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines including sociology and political science. It contributes to the increasing literature on identity politics in the European Union and reveals the mechanisms behind why the European arena is adverse to the political translation and organization of domestic nationalisms as distinctive European actors.

This book examines the multitude of challenges which the European Commission faces: once the centre of political gravity in Europe's integration process, the growth of Euroscepticism and the emergence of new institutional rivals threaten to undermine its status as an institution. Tracing the roots of the Commission's decline from the early 1990s through to the Eurozone and refugee crises, Stuart A Brown draws on new evidence to illustrate why the EU's executive now faces a battle for its future, and asks whether in the reforms of Jean-Claude Juncker the Commission may be facing its last chance. This study will appeal to students and scholars in EU institutions, politics, and public policy.

This book explores how the EU, as an international actor, is adapting to recent transformations in the multilateral system. The international identity of the European Union is built upon its support for effective multilateralism and its commitment to core norms and values. Until recently, there was no need to choose between these goals. Emerging powers in the international system are not only demanding more power in multilateral institutions, but also sometimes seeking to influence their purpose and function, away from those championed by the EU. This presents a dilemma for EU foreign policy - framed in this edited volume as either accommodating changes in order to support multilateral institutions or entrenching the EU position in order to uphold values. Using a common analytical framework, the chapters include case studies on important multilateral institutions such as the United Nations Security Council, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and the International Criminal Court, as well as key policy areas such as energy, climate change, nuclear non-proliferation, and human rights.

Revolutionary change in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union; civil strife in the Balkans; the heavy burden of German reunification; war in the Gulf and its dramatic aftermath; the completion of the internal market in 1992 and the management of two highly complicated Intergovernmental Conferences -- more than ever before its history, the European Community has to operate strong pressure. This volume captures these problems in a systematic way and presents suggestions as to how the Twelve could cope with them, using the Dutch EC-Presidency as a reference point. The subjects dealt with include: the EC Presidentcy in a new European settingthe European Community and the wider EuropeEuropean foreign policy and security cooperation; 1992' and the Common Transport Policy Economic and social cohension in a Community of regionsthe politics of Economic and Monetary Union. The chapters are written by experienced specialists from both the international academic world (economics, international relations, European law), as well as from the European institutions. Together they provide a comprehensive and unique survey of the profound challenges confronting the European Community in the early 1990s.

Can it be argued that there exists a concept of Nordic citizenship, founded on inter-Nordic cooperation and its relationship with EU law and EEA law? Researchers from all five Nordic States (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) explore the tensions, gaps, and overlaps arising from the interplay of EU citizenship, EEA law, and the Nordic initiatives that aim to facilitate cross-border mobility of persons in the region. The analysis takes a dual approach. Firstly, it tracks the legal development of nationality law in Nordic states. Secondly, it sets out the rights of residence and access to social rights that follow from the three different regimes. It asks if the Nordic States, through their regional cooperation, are 'going beyond' EU free movement law, making naturalisation to a citizenship in a Nordic state particularly attractive. This important new work gives a unique perspective on EU citizenship and free movement law.

This volume explores the theoretical value of applying rational choice theory to questions of regional integration. As with other questions of conflict and cooperation in the field of international politics, studies of European integration are divided largely between the realist and liberalist perspectives. Yet neither of these schools of thought aptly explains the dynamics characterizing this process, that is, the major advances in regional integration and the long periods of paralysis. The contributions in this volume work their way from the most general questions and macro-processes down to particular policy problems of the European Union and the micro-foundations of interstate cooperation. The work will be of interest to scholars and policymakers in international relations, international economics, and European studies.

An enlarged European Union introduces new opportunities for ethnic remixing, bringing fears over potential minority return and even sovereignty in some cases. How does a border-effacing EU impact territory subject to ethnic cleansing? Why is potential minority return considered a security threat in some recently 'unmixed' areas, but not others?
"Ethnic Cleansing and the European Union" offers the first multi-case analysis of ethnic remixing in an expanding EU. The book's two major theoretical innovations include an explanatory frame elucidating variation in Central Europe, the Balkans, and Cyprus, and an analysis of repeated minority removal for conflict resolution purposes in the early- to mid-twentieth century. Tesser argues that the Western-dominated international community's earlier endorsement of separation brought potent after-effects: incentives for ethnic cleansing and the politics of ethnic remixing in an enlarging EU.
This book will appeal to all scholars interested in the European Union, Nationalism, Forced Migration Studies, and International Relations.

In less than a decade, Europe has witnessed a series of large-scale natural disasters and two major terrorist attacks. Growing concern about the trans-national effects of these incidents has caused the EU Member States to seek more multilateral cooperation. As a result, a system of common arrangements for handling large-scale emergencies or disasters has emerged, which, due to its quick and ad-hoc development, may seem almost impenetrable to newcomers to the field. This book seeks to provide a much-needed overview of disaster and crisis management systems in the EU. It provides a basic understanding of how EU policy has evolved, the EU s mandate, and above all, a concise and hands-on description of the most central crisis management arrangements. Written by some of Europe s main experts and consultants in the field, this book represents a unique and comprehensive source of information for everyone involved or interested in the European Union crisis management system.

"This book will quickly become an indispensable resource for two groups: Practitioners will enjoy its accessible and comprehensive style. Academics curious about this emerging field will turn to it for an introductory overview. As someone who closely studies this field, I find the book engaging, detailed, and accurate, and I read every line with great interest. The authors are to be commended for the quality of research that went into this work."

Mark Rhinard, Senior Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI)

"

This book provides an original and timely insight into the role that the domestic and international political economy played in the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, combining an innovative theoretical framework with in-depth bond market analysis.

An engaging assessment of the theoretical debates on the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The contributions to this volume bring together sophisticated theoretical frameworks and extensive empirical research. Pluralistic in its approach, the volume emphasizes the role of conceptual diversity for better explaining the EU's CSDP.

In a relatively short time, the European Union has become one of the world's most powerful and important bodies. Its critical role in international affairs extends to several different areas: economics; culture; the environment; and, of course, international security and foreign affairs. This important volume explains and evaluates EU foreign policy in all its confusing dimensions.

Is there really any such thing as "European Union Foreign Policy"? If so, what is it? What are its goals and priorities, and how effective is it? How do outsiders perceive EU foreign policy, and what are the ramifications of those views? Those are just some of the questions this book tries to answer.

In order to draw the most comprehensive picture possible of EU foreign policy, Federiga Bindi and her contributors dissect both "horizontal" and "vertical" issues. Vertical concerns focus on particular geographic regions, such as the EU's foreign policy toward Africa and Asia and its relations with the United States. Horizontal issues explore wider crosscutting themes that help explain the EU's foreign policy choices and operations, such as decisionmaking processes and procedures; European self-identity; and core priorities such as peace, democracy, and human rights.

Contents

Foreword by Giuliano Amato, former foreign minister and prime minister of Italy

Part I. The New Tools of EU Foreign Policy

II. US-EU Relations after the Elections

III. EU Relations with the Rest of the Americas

IV. Africa and Asia

V. The EU and Its Neighbors

VI. The EU, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East

VII. Promoting Values and Models Abroad

VIII. Conclusions: Assessing EU Foreign Policy

This book addresses a number of vital economic convergence issues in the European Union. These are both general and specific issues relating to financial and monetary matters as well as social and labour market concerns. The book opens with a discussion of problems of a general nature. Questions posed include: What is the convergence record in the EU so far? Is there a sign of Baumol and Quah's 'convergence clubs' and 'twin peaks'? Have the 'structural funds' of the European Commission made any difference? The authors then analyse questions of a fiscal and monetary nature: Can we expect the monetary policy of the ECB to have similar effects in the EMU member-states, or is it in itself a source of asymmetric shocks? Has EU membership made any difference, with respect to the initial differences in tax revenue structures? Finally the book focuses on questions regarding social and labour markets: Is global economic convergence compatible with sustainable differences in national social protection levels? Does European globalisation force labour markets to 'de-institutionalise' and do European labour markets converge to a 'Third Way' model? Academics and researchers of European studies and economic policy will find this up-to-date book of great interest, as will policymakers and business leaders both affected by and from within the EU.

Exploring the illegal drug issue in international context, this book looks at why harmonization has not already taken place at the European level. It considers the desirability and viability of harmonization, examines the conflict between repressive and liberal drug policies and applies a multi-level governance lens to the issue.

David Begg examines how four small open economies- Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Ireland- have managed the stresses and strains of Europeanisation since the single market came into being, and as fault lines begin to appear within the European integration project. In particular, he drills down into the Irish Polity to see how its institutions have engaged with Europe and how decisions on critical issues like integration, EMU and Social Partnership were reached. He finds that both Ireland and Europe are at a critical juncture for different but interconnected reasons, and identifies the options that are available to them.

This book examines civil society empowerment during the EU enlargement process. Building on extensive fieldwork, it compares mobilisation around rule of law issues in Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia. Moving beyond the traditional focus on the top-down impact of EU support, it demonstrates NGOs' agency and analyses their shifting strategies throughout the membership negotiations. Its approach and findings will appeal to scholars and advanced students of EU integration, social movements, and the politics of South East Europe.

This volume outlines the content of the main treaties that form the 'constitutional' basis of the European Union and analyses changes in these over time. The EU has expanded its policy scope and taken in many more members transferring powers to common supranational institutions in a way seen nowhere else in the world.

This book investigates the question of why, despite European integration and its challenges to state sovereignty, separatist nationalism continues to thrive in European Union member states. Janet Laible argues that the EU, as a context, a set of resources, and a participatory arena, is deeply implicated in the arguments and tactics of separatists. Contrary to those who believe that European integration has reduced the incentives for separatist politics, Laible draws on evidence from contemporary Scottish and Flemish nationalism to demonstrate that the EU sustains the importance of statehood and therefore separatism, and creates new forms of political capital that nationalists employ in their struggles for self-government.

Based on original empirical research that includes 90 interviews with key leaders, this book compares and contrasts negotiations during the processes of German unification and Eastern enlargement of the EU, with particular attention to the Czech Republic. It develops two models of political integration and suggests that such integration can take place by means of a take-over (Transplantation), or by the joining entity adjusting to the norms and institutions of the accepting party (Adaptation). In addition to an exploration of these two different models and a detailed examination of the two cases, the book points to other historical examples of Transplantation and Adaptation and formulates lessons for where future research might travel, temporarily and geographically, in the cases of other political integrations. Providing new insights into German unification and European integration, this text is key reading for academics, advanced undergraduate and graduate students in EU Politics, as well as policy-makers and the wider public.

The term 'Eurocracy' is a word that exists in all European languages. Yet beyond fantasized representations of the 'Brussels bubble', we know little about members of the European Parliament, Commissioners, European civil servants, lobbyists, members of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, European trade unionists, diplomats and journalists who work in or around the EU institutions? What are their social and professional trajectories, the type of authority they possess, and how does it matter? Based on extensive fieldwork, this volume aims at answering these questions by building upon Pierre Bourdieu's theory of the field of bureaucracy. 45 years after Altiero Spinelli's 'The Eurocrats', this book sheds new light on the relational structures that underpin the functioning of the EU polity. Specialists of European affairs, scholars and students in politics, administration and sociology as well as citizens will find original insights to understanding EU institutions and why the European project appears to be in crisis.

Securing Europe takes a novel approach to Europeanization among EU member states by employing a sociological institutionalist approach. Watanabe argues that Europeanization as a process of change takes place not as a result of rationally calculating states, but because of the reworking of perceptual and normative frameworks.
In this book, Lisa Watanabe attempts to contribute to a better understanding of the integration process in the European security field. She explores which actors play an important role in transforming policy spheres that are central to state sovereignty, in an effort to discern the manner in which their institutional embeddedness has contributed to altering the politics of security within the EU. She then examines the impact that developments in the security realm have on the EU-US security relationship.