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The essential Pelican introduction to the European Union - its history, its politics, and its role today For most of us today, 'Europe' refers to the European Union. At the centre of a seemingly never-ending crisis, the EU remains a black box, closed to public understanding. Is it a state? An empire? Is Europe ruled by Germany or by European bureaucrats? Does a single European economy exist after all these years of economic integration? And should the EU have been awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2012? Critics tell us the EU undermines democracy. Are they right? In this provocative volume, political scientist Chris Bickerton provides an answer to all these key questions and more at a time when understanding what the EU is and what it does is more important than ever before.
Immigration tops the list of challenges of greatest concern to European Union citizens. Such movement of people pose major challenges for policymakers. EU countries must integrate immigrants while managing often distorted public perceptions of immigration. This Blueprint offers an in-depth study that contributes to the evidence base.
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 the European 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 the most 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.
Europe is in crisis, but the European Union just gets stronger. Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ireland have all been told that they must submit their budgets to EU-appointed bureaucrats. The 'soft coup' that put EU officials in charge of Greece and Italy shows that the Union is opposed to democracy. Instead of weakening the European Union, the budget crisis of 2012 has ended up with the eurocrats grabbing new powers to dictate terms. Over the years the forward march of the European Union has been widely misunderstood. James Heartfield explains that the rise of the EU is driven by the decline in political participation. Without political contestation national parliaments have become an empty shell. Where once elites drew authority from their own people, today they draw authority from the European Union, and other summits of world leaders. The growth of the European Union runs in tandem with the decline in national politics. As national sovereignty is hollowed out, technocratic administration from Brussels fills the void. This account of the rise of the European Union includes a full survey of the major schools of thought in European studies, and a valuable guide to those who want to take back control. ,
This is a fully revised edition of a well-established text for students. It offers an invaluable and up-to- date interpretation of the European policy process. Helen Wallace and William Wallace have assembled a team of internationally-renowned authors to present fourteen case studies --ranging from analyses of the CAP and environmental policy, to the politics of Economic and Monetary Union and the new World Trade Organisation. Helen Wallace also provides, in the two opening chapters, an introduction and overview of European politics, policy, and institutions. In concluding thevolume, William Wallace reflects on the future for the EU as it faces calls for ever closer political integration. Policy-Making in the European Union provides the student with a timely and provocative insight into European integration in a period of critical change.
Translated by Ciaran Cronin. In the midst of the current crisis that is threatening to derail the historical project of European unification, Jürgen Habermas has been one of the most perceptive critics of the ineffectual and evasive responses to the global financial crisis, especially by the German political class. This extended essay on the constitution for Europe represents Habermas’s constructive engagement with the European project at a time when the crisis of the eurozone is threatening the very existence of the European Union. There is a growing realization that the European treaty needs to be revised in order to deal with the structural defects of monetary union, but a clear perspective for the future is missing. Drawing on his analysis of European unification as a process in which international treaties have progressively taken on features of a democratic constitution, Habermas explains why the current proposals to transform the system of European governance into one of executive federalism is a mistake. His central argument is that the European project must realize its democratic potential by evolving from an international into a cosmopolitan community. The opening essay on the role played by the concept of human dignity in the genealogy of human rights in the modern era throws further important light on the philosophical foundations of Habermas’s theory of how democratic political institutions can be extended beyond the level of nation-states. Now that the question of Europe and its future is once again at the centre of public debate, this important intervention by one of the greatest thinkers of our time will be of interest to a wide readership.
“An informative, well-paced, and clearly articulated narrative of the European Union’s development” (Jennifer Yoder, Colby College). This brief and accessible introduction to the European Union is ideal for anyone who needs a concise overview of the structure, history, and policies of the EU. This updated edition includes a new chapter on the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone. Andreas Staab offers basic terms and interpretive frameworks for understanding the evolution of the EU; the overall structure, purpose, and mandate of its main constituent divisions; and key policy areas, such as market unification and environmental policy. “Readers in America and Europe alike will benefit from the very considerable expertise revealed in these pages.” —Hugh Dykes, House of Lords, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on the European Union “A fine introduction to the European Union and will appeal to a range of collections, from political science and business holdings to college-level collections strong in the media.” —Midwest Book Review
Against the backdrop of combating the financial and economic crisis in the European Union for the past decade, this volume strives to explore the manifold impacts the prevailing crisis management has on the further alignment of European Integration. The efforts targeted at overcoming the financial and economic crisis evoked far-reaching consequences on the societal, economic, and political level within European member states, which in turn challenge the institutional alignment, democratic legitimacy and economic coherence of the European Union. Taking into account current developments in the EU, the contributions presented in this volume focus on the ‘fault lines’ in the integration process, i.e. questions of policy coherence, democratic accountability, financialization, militarization, migration, gendered social and economic asymmetries as well as the rise of populist and extreme right-wing parties. The volume focuses on how these different developments come together by relating aspects of transdisciplinary research to uncover the fault lines in the European integration project in the subsequent chapters. ContentEconomic and Democratic Governance • Right Wing Populism and Right Extreme Parties • Financialization and Militarization • Social Exclusion, Welfare and Migration Policies EditorsProf. (FH) Dr. Stefanie Wöhl, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna. Prof. (FH) Dr. Elisabeth Springler, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna. Mag. Martin Pachel, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna. Dr. Bernhard Zeilinger, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna.
People have always travelled within Europe for work and leisure, although never before with the current intensity. Now, however, they are travelling for many other reasons, including the quest for key services such as health care. Whatever the reason for travelling, one question they ask is "If I fall ill, will the health care I receive be of a high standard?" This book examines, for the first time, the systems that have been put in place in all of the European Union's 27 Member States. The picture it paints is mixed. Some have well developed systems, setting standards based on the best available evidence, monitoring the care provided, and taking action where it falls short. Others need to overcome significant obstacles.
In the post-Cold war period new security threats have arisen in Western Europe. Amongst these, organized crime and illegal immigration are acknowledged to represent significant security challenges. The European Union and Internal Security analyses the nature of these challenges and investigates how the EU has been evolving to counter them. Written by experts in the fields of political science and law, this book addresses a hitherto neglected area of study.