Karen Alter's work on the European Court of Justice (ECJ) heralded a new level of sophistication in the political analysis of the controversial institution, through its combination of legal understanding and active engagement with theoretical questions. The European Court's Political Power assembles the most important of Alter's articles written over a fourteen year span, adding an original new introduction and conclusion taking an overview of the Court's development and current concerns.
Together the articles provide insight into the historical and political contours of the ECJ's influence on European politics, explaining how and why the same institution can have such a varying impact across time and issue area. The book starts with the European Coal and Steel Community, where the ECJ was largely unable to facilitate greater member state respect for ECSC rules. Alter then shows how legal actors orchestrated an activist transformation of the European legal system-with the critical aid of jurist advocacy movements, and via the co-optation national courts. The transformation of the European legal system wrested from member states control over the meaning of European law, but the ECJ continues to have differential influence across issue area. Alter explains that different influence of the ECJ comes from the varied extent to which sub and supra-national actors turn to the ECJ to achieve political objectives.
Looking beyond the European experience, the book includes four chapters that put the ECJ into a comparative perspective, examining the extent to which the ECJ experience is unique, or a harbinger of the future role international courts may play in international and comparative politics.

Karen Alter's work on the European Court of Justice heralded a new level of sophistication in the political analysis of the controversial institution, through its combination of legal understanding and active engagement with theoretical questions. The European Court's Political Power assembles the most important of Alter's articles written over a fourteen year span, adding an original new introduction and a conclusion that takes an overview of the Court's development and current concerns.
Together the articles provide insight into the historical and political contours of the ECJ's influence on European politics, explaining how and why the impact of an institution can vary so greatly over time and access different issues. The book starts with the European Coal and Steel Community, where the ECJ was largely unable to facilitate greater member state respect for ECSC rules. Alter then shows how legal actors orchestrated an activist transformation of the European legal system, with the critical aid of jurist advocacy movements, and via the co-optation of national courts. The transformation of the European legal system wrested control from member states over the meaning of European law, but the ECJ continues to have varying influence across different issues. Alter explains that the differing influence of the ECJ comes from the varied extent to which sub- and supra-national actors turn to it to achieve political objectives.
Looking beyond the European experience, the book includes four chapters that put the ECJ into a comparative perspective, examining the extent to which the ECJ experience is a unique harbinger of the future role international courts may play in international and comparative politics.

The most effective international legal system in the world exists in Europe. It works much like a domestic system, where violations of the law are brought to court, legal decisions are respected, and the autonomous influence of law and legal rulings extends into the political process itself. The European legal system was not always so effective at influencing state behavior and compelling compliance. Indeed the European Community's original legal system was intentionally designed to have very limited monitoring and enforcement capabilities. The European Court of Justice transformed the original system through bold and controversial legal decisions declaring the direct effect and supremacy of European law over national law.
This book starts where traditional legal accounts leave off. Karen Alter explains why national courts took on a role enforcing European law against their governments, and why national governments accepted an institutional change that greatly compromised national sovereignty. She then shows how harnessing national courts to funnel private litigant challenges through to the ECJ and enforce European law supremacy contributed fundamentally to the emergence of an international rule of law in Europe, where national governments are held accountable to their European legal obligations, and where states actually avoid policies that might conflict with European law.

How did the European Community's legal system become the most effective international legal system in the world? This book begins where traditional legal accounts end, explaining why national judiciaries took on a role enforcing European law supremacy against their governments, and why national governments accepted an institutional change that greatly compromised national sovereignty. Alter then shows how harnessing private litigants to monitor state compliance with European law, and national courts to enforce European law against their governments, extended the influence of European law into the political process itself, leading to the emergence of an international rule of law in Europe.