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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > International relations > International institutions > EU & European institutions
The author explores the practice and effects of the European Union's democracy promotion efforts vis-a-vis its authoritarian neighbours in the Middle East and North Africa. She argues that the same set of factors facilitated both international cooperation of authoritarian regimes on democracy promotion and their persistence during the Arab Spring.
This book examines selected pertinent topics on issues relating to current and future EU developments. In its initial sections, the book focuses on an array of wide ranging micro (agriculture, industry and competition) and macro (EMU, regional convergence and enlargement) issues. A final section is reserved for discussion on Britain's future relationship with the EU. In particular, the book posits possible alternative strategies (e.g. NAFTA membership and policy frameworks) and examines these from both a theoretical and empirical perspective.
Why are the British so Euro-sceptic? Forget about tedious treaties, party politics or international relations. The real reason is that the British do not feel European. This book explores and explains the cultural divide between Britain and Europe, where it comes from and how it manifests itself in everyday life and the academic world.
Decisive rejection by French and Dutch voters in 2005 forced the EU to abandon the Constitutional Treaty agreed the previous year. Yet by the end of the 2007, contrary to all expectations and after an intergovernmental conference essentially devoid of substantive negotiation, EU leaders had agreed and signed the Treaty of Lisbon containing the bulk of the Constitutional Treaty's substantive reforms. How did this latest treaty come about? Why did events move so quickly in 2007? Who were the key actors and what methods did they use to enable a treaty to be drawn up and agreed in such a short period of time? This book explores the unique process that saw EU leaders hastily agree a lengthy and detailed mandate for the intergovernmental conference. In doings so, it highlights the pivotal roles played by the German Council Presidency and key institutional actors in paving the way for and securing agreement among EU leaders on the new treaty.
This book provides an analysis of the European Neighbourhood Policy by focusing on the impact of norms of justice and home affairs on EU external relations. Drawing on the literature of new governance it designs a framework for analysis which clarifies the contents, tools and processes of the external dimension of EU justice and home affairs.
This book considers the principal challenges facing the European Union, which has been buffeted by a series of profound crises, both internal and external. These range from the future of Ukraine, the Union's reactions to China's 'One Belt, One Road' initiative, how to help stabilize countries to its south, and relations with the United States. The core argument is that the EU lacks a meta-narrative that could indicate priorities and linkages between the various continental, regional, national and thematic strategies. As a result, the EU often appears to be a confusing and even contradictory actor to many international partners. In response to these challenges the EU needs to develop a deeper sense of strategic awareness and confidence so that it may give a more convincing response to fundamental questions about the Union's role, purpose and identity in a changing world.
The future of European Monetary Union (EMU) stands as one of the most important economic issues of the era. The author argues that in the event of macroeconomic shocks, rather than acting as a cohesive force, EMU could give rise to disunity. As EMU is not an optimal currency area, asymmetric shocks affecting each country differently could be critical to its future. The success of EMU depends upon the ability of institutions in the EU to satisfy the monetary and fiscal policy demands of sufficient numbers of national constituents, interest groups, and multinational corporations. This book employs principles from public choice to analyze the EU institutions that participate in the monetary policy making process of EMU and assesses whether they have the mechanisms to cope with asymmetric macroeconomic shocks. In particular, it examines the European Council, Council of Ministers, European Commission, European Parliament and the European Central Bank. This book provides an invaluable critique of the EMU plan and will be of interest to scholars of European economics, macroeconomics and public choice.
Before the latest EU enlargement, substantial changes in the integration process were predicted as a result of the accession of 10 new Member States, with some forecasting cataclysmic consequences. This book, one of the first ex post assessments of EU enlargement, provides evidence to the contrary, while also providing examples in which the new Members have been able to influence EU policy output with their liberal attitudes on economic and social policy. This book will be of great interest to EU policymakers, including officials of European institutions whose primary concerns are 'policy adjustment' and EU external relations. It will also be of interest to academics and students specialising in EU affairs, especially European integration, organisation, governance and public policy.
It was logical to expect that the European Economic and Monetary Union would lead ineluctably to an autonomous European defense; the very size of the European Union seems to demand it. The EU eventually will reach the point where its economic and demographic weight will far exceed that of the United States. Can it not be expected too that the EU will seek to make this weight felt internationally? Cogan tracks the halting creation of an independent European military structure, a third way between national armies and ATO, since the Iron Curtain's fall. With the Cold War's end and subsequent western engagements in Central and Eastern Europe, it is no longer a question of whether NATO and the EU compare; they now must relate. They have to coordinate their planning and force postures so as to avoid duplication of resources and efforts. Although NATO's integrated command structure theoretically was an anomaly with the end of the Cold War, it nevertheless turned out to be the case in Bosnia, and later Kosovo, that nothing was possible until the Americans intervened. The virtue of integrated command -- American participation and know-how -- was once again seen as crucially important, despite the increasingly anachronistic deficit of sovereignty for Western Europe in defense matters. In the long run, Europe's economic power must be balanced by its military and diplomatic might.
"Understanding Conflict between Russia and the EU" addresses the conflictual issues in EU-Russian relations and presents an innovative theory for the understanding of their emergence. Drawing on up-to-date research data, the author argues that conflicts in EU-Russian relations are generated by the clash of principles of state sovereignty and international integration, which characterize the policies of both sides.
Based on interviews with some of the EU's most important leaders, this bookis designed to probe and elucidate what they think. The goal of the book is to find out whether they believe that the current period in the history of the European Union constitutes a 'crisis, ' and if so, what kind of crisis is it?
A collection of essays based on an international conference in 1989. The essays examine both the historical dimension of the European idea and the problems of national and transnational identity confronting European integration in the 1990s. Chapters discuss post-modern Europe, Europe and Japan, the European identity, political parties, contemporary feminist movements, socialism, Austrian identity and an essay on Mitterand.
Mutual Recognition (MR) implies that each Member State is free to
use the standards for production it prefers but cannot inhibit the
import from other Member States lawfully using other standards,
unless justified by emergency reasons. The home country rule then
prevails on the host country. Barriers to entry diminish,
competition rises in the internal market. This collection looks at
a number of aspects of MR, including why its importance cannot be
understood outside the general practice of free movement and how
some elements of MR already emerge in the skilled labour market of
professionals.
This book provides a comprehensive review of relations between China and the EU from the perspectives of politics, economy and culture in order to provide a better understanding of the development of the China-EU Strategic Partnership over the past ten years and to explore its future direction. It goes on to discuss China-EU relations against the backdrop of global governance, as well as China's relations with some of the EU member states. The final part of the report presents a comparative analysis of China-EU relations and EU-US relations. This book will help readers to better understand the status quo and to predict China-EU relations in the near future.
Shows that networks in European integration governance were not a phenomenon that developed in the 1980s out of a 'hollowing out' of the nation-states in the 1970s. Based throughout on newly accessible sources, the authors discuss various networks and show how they contributed to constitutional choices and policy decisions after World War II.
Eight former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe joined the European Union in 2004 and two more are scheduled to do so in 2007. This book examines the influence of the EU on party politics in all ten countries from a variety of perspectives and using a range of empirical sources. The book thus makes an original and distinctive contribution both to contemporary EU studies and to the literature on CE party systems and party development.
In 2000 the European Union and its 78 African-Caribbean-Pacific partners signed the Cotonou Agreement, thereby heralding a new era in developmental politics. In the Treaty the European Union set out its commitment to assist its African-Caribbean-Pacific partners 'on the objective of reducing and eventually eradicating poverty consistent with the objective of sustainable development and the gradual integration of the ACP countries into the world economy'. Thisbook draws attention to limitations in the European Union's approach to implementing pro-poor, environmentally sustainable development amongst its African-Caribbean-Pacific partners. Accessible and comprehensive, this study will be of use to anyone with an interest in North-South relations, International Political Economy, Environmental Politics and Development Politics.
In a trend that has been developing since the European Union was first established, it has becoming patently obvious that EU policies on the Mediterranean simply do not work. In the past this failure have largely been understood as being the result of problems that are primarily cosmetic in nature with some commentators indicating an issue with structural incentives or enforcement mechanisms in the region while others have pointed to a negligence of historical structures and legacies on the part of the EU that leave a lasting impact.This book provides a compelling alternative understanding of why EU policies on the Mediterranean have failed to work and one that highlights that the problems are far more than simply cosmetic but rather lie at the very foundations on which the entire edifice of EU-Mediterranean policy is built and continues to be built. As high-lighted by case studies using new constructivist Institutionalist perspective, the EU seems to have ignored the central role that ideas play in policies and in the process of policy formation but rather prioritise policies that continue to privilege the economic concerns of the EU, rather than the social concerns of the Mediterranean states. This books is important reading for students and scholars interested in the policy-making process of the EU and the impact of its policies.
European integration has had, and is continuing to have, an enormous impact on the state of Europe: through transforming the nation-state; creating new supranational institutions and joint policy-making; integrating markets and liberalizing trade; fiscal redistribution; and through fostering the formation of transnational elite networks and growing identification with Europe; but also through accentuating social friction; raising concerns about the remoteness of supranational policy-making and serving as a focal point for 'Eurosceptic' political mobilization. Thus, it is increasingly crucial for researchers, students and citizens to understand the complex history of the present-day European Union. This book provides them with a highly accessible state of the art introduction to how historians and social scientists have conceptualized, written about, and debated this increasingly shared contemporary history of Europe since World War II.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union expectations were high that a 'new world order' was emerging in which Russia and the other former Soviet republics would join the Western community of nations. That has not occurred. This volume explains the reasons for this failure and assesses likely future developments in that relationship
The notion of Normative Power Europe (NPE) is that the EU is an 'ideational' actor characterised by common principles and acting to diffuse norms within international relations. Contributors assess the impact of NPE and offer new perspectives for the future exploration of one of the most widely used ideas in the study of the EU in the last decade.
Although there are many pamphlets and monographs that cover specific aspects of the European Community, the literature seems to lack a single, scholarly reader that gives a complete account of the many dimensions of European integration. This volume, written by a distinguished group of international specialists, seeks to fill this void by pulling together a broad collection of papers focusing on the political, sociological, and economic issues surrounding the European Union. Beginning with a historical look at the genesis, evolution, and theoretical interpretation of the historical process of European integration, the book goes on to analyze the socio-economic structure of the European community and the social forces operating within it. Students and scholars will find this a valuable, flexible, and versatile text for manifold courses in the social sciences; policymakers and general readers will find this a highly informative and readable evaluation of the current state of the European Union.
David Howarth and Peter Loedel provide a theoretically inspired account of the creation, design, and operation of the European Central Bank, (ECB). Issues explored include the theoretical approaches to the ECB, the antecedents of European monetary authority, the different national perspectives on central bank independence, the complex organization of the bank, the issues of accountability and the difficult first years of the ECB in operation.
This book provides a comprehensive and updated legal analysis of the equality principle in EU law. To this end, it argues for a broad definition of the principle, which includes not only its inter-individual dimension, but also the equality of the Member States before the EU Treaties. The book presents a collection of high-quality academic and expert contributions, which, in light of the most recent developments in implementing the post-Lisbon legal framework, reflect the current interpretation of the equality principle, examining its performance in practice with a view to suggesting possible solutions in order to overcome recurring problems. To this end the volume is divided into three Parts, the first of which addresses a peculiar aspect of the EU equality that is mostly overlooked in the investigations devoted to this topic, namely, equality among States. Part II shifts to the inter-individual dimension of equality and explores some major developments contributing to (re)shaping the global framework of EU anti-discrimination law, while Part III undertakes a more practical investigation devoted to the substantive strands of that area of EU law.
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