Demystifying the European Union

Demystifying the European Union
Author: Roy H. Ginsberg
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Total Pages: 423
Release: 2010-04-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0742566935

Written by one of the premier scholars on the European Union and hailed as the best undergraduate text on the subject, this book has been thoroughly revised and updated to include the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. Clear and comprehensive, it "demystifies" one of the world's most important and least understood institutions. Roy H. Ginsberg contextualizes European integration through the foundation blocks of history, law, economics, and politics. He then breaks the EU down into its components so that they can be understood individually and in relation to the whole. Reconstructing the EU as a single polity, Ginsberg evaluates the EU's domestic and foreign policies and their effects on Europeans and non-Europeans alike. The author thus challenges students to see what the European Union truly represents: a unique experiment in regional cooperation and a remarkable model of conflict resolution for the world's troubled regions.

The Member States of the European Union

The Member States of the European Union
Author: Simon Bulmer
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 499
Release: 2020-04-14
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0198737394

Member States of the European Union combines geographic and thematic coverage to provide a comprehensive and nuanced overview of the building blocks of the European Union - its member states. The third edition explores the key concepts of statehood and Europeanization, analysing the wide-ranging impact of Europeanization on member state institutions, political parties, social movements, public policy and the European political economy. New coverage includes state responses to the refugee and climate crises and two new chapters dedicated to Bulgaria and Greece. A fully-updated chapter on the United Kingdom illustrates the tensions between Europeanization and member statehood, exploring the implications of the UK's vote to leave the EU. It is the ideal text for all those studying EU Politics with an interest in the member states of the European Union and how they work together.

Understanding the European Union

Understanding the European Union
Author: John McCormick
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2020-11-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1350311545

This is the must-have, leading introduction to the European Union. Offering an ideal primer on the EU's history, institutions, and politics, this concise textbook also covers the various challenges and opportunities faced by the EU, from the democratic deficit and the potential of future enlargement to the spread of nationalism and crises such as Brexit and the impact of the global pandemic. Understanding the European Union is now more crucial than ever, and this text provides a succinct but nuanced account of its development and how it works. This book will be the ideal guide for all undergraduate and postgraduate courses in political science, global affairs and European Studies. It is also a suitable starting point for anyone seeking to learn more about the EU. New to this Edition: - A number of key themes and issues run throughout the book, including past and ongoing crises facing the EU, the EU's place within the broader international system, a focus on the EU's comparative political, social, and economic context, the confederal qualities of the EU, and Brexit. - Addresses the early impact of the global pandemic on the EU. - Greater use of maps, figures, tables and boxes where useful to inform the analysis, accompanied by up-to-date further reading. - Informed throughout by sophisticated yet accessible treatment of theory, including post-functionalism and critical perspectives. - Cutting-edge coverage of Brexit and negotiations around withdrawal.

The European Union

The European Union
Author: Daniel Kenealy
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2015
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0199685371

'The European Union: How does it work?' is the perfect introduction to the EU's structure and operations for those coming to the subject for the first time. An expert team of scholars and practitioners cut through the complexity to explain how the EU works in practice, and equip students with the knowledge and skills they need to master the subject. The fourth edition of this successful textbook reflects the ongoing changes in the EU in the aftermath of the Eurozone crises, and the global context in which the EU exists. It also features expanded coverage of theories of European integration and policy making, and considers the hugely topical debate about the UK's future in the EU. Students' understanding of the main actors, policies, and developments in the EU is aided by the inclusion of helpful learning features throughout the text. 'How it really works' boxes challenge students to contrast the theory with how the EU actuallly works in practice, while 'Compared to what?' features encourage them to think broadly and critically about the reality of politics in the EU.--

The European Commission, Expert Groups, and the Policy Process

The European Commission, Expert Groups, and the Policy Process
Author: Julia Metz
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2015-08-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1137437235

This book challenges the assumption that policy makers' work with advisory committees is emblematic of technocratic governance. Analyzing how and why the European Commission uses expert groups in the policy process, it shows that experts not only solve technical problems, but also function as political devices and negotiators in modern governance.

Towards a Segmented European Political Order

Towards a Segmented European Political Order
Author: Jozef Batora
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2019-11-21
Genre:
ISBN: 9781138495326

This book makes a distinctive contribution to the crucial debate on the European Union's present and future development. It systematically examines how the range of crises and challenges over the last decade have transformed the EU and relates those findings to the discussion of an increasingly differentiated EU. It argues that the post-crises EU shows clear signs of becoming a segmented political order with in-built biases and constraints. The book spells out the key features of such an order in ideational and structural terms and how it more concretely manifests itself in the EU's institutional and constitutional make-up, and in how member states constrain and condition EU action. Different states impose different types of constraints, as is underlined through paying explicit attention to the Visegrád countries. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of European Union politics/studies, European integration and politics, East European politics, and foreign policy.

The European Union and the People

The European Union and the People
Author: Mette Elise Jolly
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2007-05-24
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0199213070

The European Union is frequently accused of having a 'democratic deficit'. Many commentators argue that this could be remedied by increasing the powers of the European Parliament relative to those of the Council and the Commission. The fact that the European Parliament is the only EU institution whose members are directly elected leads to the assumption that it is also the most legitimate. The author argues that this position is based on the flawed assumption that the nature of theEuropean citizenry is similar to those of the member states. In other words, the position assumes that the union has a demos, or a people, who are prepared to accept majority outcomes even when finding themselves in the minority. In this book the author argues that this is not the case and that themost severe dimension of the democracy problem is not procedural, but socio-psychological. The fact that the EU does not have a people means that establishing an EU-wide democracy based on analogies to domestic political systems is likely to lead to a further loss of democratic legitimacy. The EU can rely on output legitimacy in policy areas which do not require pan-European solidarity and identity and in which policy-making at EU-level increases efficiency and thereby benefits all citizens.However, policy areas which require high levels of solidarity or a common identity should either remain fully within the nation states, or be subject to intergovernmental rather than supranational decision-making at EU-level.

Demystifying Globalization

Demystifying Globalization
Author: C. Hay
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2016-01-08
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0230554504

Globalization, within academic, political and business circles alike, conjures an ever growing diversity of associations, connotations and attendant mythologies. In this volume a distinguished array of international academics assess the contribution of the globalization thesis, in its various guises, to our understanding of social, political and economic change in contemporary societies. They expose, challenge and demystify many of the exaggerated and overgeneralized claims made about globalization, whilst developing a distinctive 'third wave' perspective on the world we inhabit and the processes currently reconfiguring it.

Comparing Strategies of (De)Politicisation in Europe

Comparing Strategies of (De)Politicisation in Europe
Author: Jim Buller
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2018-07-03
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3319642367

This book investigates the extent to which depoliticisation strategies, used to disguise the political character of decision-making, have become the established mode of governance within societies. Increasingly, commentators suggest that the dominance of depoliticisation is leading to a crisis of representative democracy or even the end of politics, but is this really true? This book examines the circumstances under which depoliticisation techniques can be challenged, whether such resistance is successful and how we might understand this process. It addresses these questions by adopting a novel comparative and interdisciplinary perspective. Scholars from a range of European countries scrutinise the contingent nature of depoliticisation through a collection of case studies, including: economic policy; transport; the environment; housing; urban politics; and government corruption. The book will be appeal to academics and students across the fields of politics, sociology, urban geography, philosophy and public policy.

The European Union

The European Union
Author: Ingeborg Toemmel
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2017-08-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 113742754X

The European Union affects the lives of Europeans in many and varied ways, yet, in spite of its reach, it often appears a constrained political system – struggling for internal consensus, reliant on the agreement of national governments, and hampered by the scepticism of electorates. These issues have become even more acute in the wake of the global economic and eurozone crises. This new text provides a concise and up-to-date introduction to the nature of the European Union, giving an account of its evolution and structure that makes sense of its current challenges. The text analyses the EU's institutional structure and decision-making procedures, and highlights the manifold conflicts as well as the sophisticated mechanisms for consensus-building among the core institutions. It explains the ways in which the EU differs from other forms of political order, and how this leads to political processes that are characterized by cooperation and conflict. In providing this context, the author invites readers to a critical assessment of the functioning of the European Union, and of the implications of this for its democratic legitimacy and future prospects.