The relationship between the European Union and its member states is complex and continually evolving. This book seeks to explore not only the nature of this relationship, but the broader implications of European integration for the ways in which politics in Europe is studied. It addresses three major questions: How has European integration affected national politics and public policies? to what extent has the existence of the EU challenged existing approaches to the study of national politics? and how appropriate is it to attempt to study the EU using the analytical tools traditionally used to study nation states? The intention is to consider the impact of European integration both on the nature and the study of politics in western Europe. These questions are addressed by a group of distinguished academics from both Europe and North America.

This book is the second of two volumes in which leading scholars examine the way in which EU member states co-ordinate their European policies. This second volume investigates the structures, institutions and processes put in place by national governments in Brussels. From a comparative perspective, the book assesses the responses of governments to the demands of EU membership. It offers a detailed examination of the organisation, operation and performance of permanent representations, and their role in national systems of EU policy making, and looks at the extent to which interaction within a common institutional environment has brought about convergence between national arrangements.

The companion volume examines the national co-ordination of EU policy at the domestic level.

This book is the second of two volumes in which leading scholars examine the way in which EU member states co-ordinate their European policies. This second volume investigates the structures, institutions and processes put in place by national governments in Brussels. From a comparative perspective, the book assesses the responses of governments to the demands of EU membership. It offers a detailed examination of the organisation, operation and performance of permanent representations, and their role in national systems of EU policy making, and looks at the extent to which interaction within a common institutional environment has brought about convergence between national arrangements.

The companion volume, published in 2000, examines the national co-ordination of EU policy at the domestic level.

The Government and Politics of France has been the leading textbook on French politics for over a generation, and continues to provide students with a comprehensive and incisive introduction to the intricacies of French politics and government. This edition updates every chapter, with the addition of a new chapter on France and Europe. Recent events necessitate a new edition, particularly the 2002 elections and the growing interpenetration of France and the EU in student programmes, as well as in the real world. Whether covering the shifting balance within France's two-headed executive, the paradoxes of the French party politics, the power and fragmentation of France's administration, the growing assertiveness of French local government, or the newly visible world of the judiciary, The Government and Politics of France has always sought to confront established paradigms with the complex and untidy reality of French politics at the grass roots.

The Government and Politics of France has been the leading textbook on French politics for over a generation, and continues to provide students with a comprehensive and incisive introduction to the intricacies of French politics and government. This edition updates every chapter, with the addition of a new chapter on France and Europe. Recent events necessitate a new edition, particularly the 2002 elections and the growing interpenetration of France and the EU in student programmes, as well as in the real world. Whether covering the shifting balance within France's two-headed executive, the paradoxes of the French party politics, the power and fragmentation of France's administration, the growing assertiveness of French local government, or the newly visible world of the judiciary, The Government and Politics of France has always sought to confront established paradigms with the complex and untidy reality of French politics at the grass roots.

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This title available in eBook format. Click here for more information.
Visit our eBookstore at: www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk.

Two leading authors challenge the assumption that France has a well-coordinated government. The constitutional, political,and policy frameworks of coordination are critically assessed in relation to the central actors and the spending ministries, as well as the formal and informal mechanisms of coordination.

A group of acknowledged international experts consider how the EU has affected not only the politics and policies of the member states, but also the challenges it poses to the study of West European politics in general.

A comparative study of the senior civil service in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Greece, Denmark and Sweden. The book provides valuable information about the structures, and composition of the higher civil service and its position in the political structure through a comparative framework.

This constitutional and institutional development of the European Community, and federalism in particular, are widely and intensely debated. The issue of federalism has proved to be divisive and misunderstood. This book provides a critical reappraisal of the political, economic, and socio-cultural potential of current federal political-institutional arrangements. It includes both an analysis of their necessary preconditions as well as evaluation of their advantages and disadvantages compared with other forms of state organisation. The authors examine the issue at the level of the Community, the member states, and the states of Central and Eastern Europe reflecting the increasing interdependence and interplay of these three levels; nation states in all parts of Europe influencing only one another and the Community, and being influenced by it. The book concludes with an overall assessment of the federalizing processes at work in Europe, both at the Community and nation state level, and pints out the problems, paradoxes and likely outcomes of these processes.