The Government and Politics of the European Union
Kaup valmöguleikar
The definitive textbook on EU politics and governance, now in its 9th edition, has been thoroughly updated to take into account the ongoing developments and evolution of the EU. Major changes, recent developments, and the crises that have befallen the union in recent times are analysed within this context. By detailing the evolution of European integration, Nugent and Ripoll Servent give the necessary historical context to their exhaustive analysis of policies, process, institutions and treaties.
In this revised edition, this has grown to include new chapters that detail both diverse theoretical perspectives and inter-institutional relations. In doing so, The Government and Politics of the European Union enables students with no prior knowledge of the EU to truly master the subject. With a new structure to increase readability, a broad range of pedagogical features - document excerpts, case studies, maps figures - and a fully developed companion website with resources for both students and lecturers, this text remains an essential for students new to EU studies.
This new edition offers:- Updates on all main institutions, policies and processes- Authoritative coverage of the main institutions, policies and processes of the EU - A new chapter on theory that includes a broader and more diverse range of theoretical perspectives- A new chapter on inter-institutional relations. - Increased amount of visual features i.
Nánar um bókina
- Bloomsbury UK
- 9781350336612
- 9781350336582
- ePub
- 9
- Neill Nugent; Ariadna Ripoll Servent
- English
- 2026-02-16
- 100
- 10
- 10
Kaflar
- Cover
- Series Page
- Title Page
- Summary of Contents
- Contents
- List of Illustrative Material
- List of Abbreviations
- Preface to the Ninth Edition
- 1 Introduction
- Main Themes of this Chapter 1
- Government and Politics: What do We Mean?
- The Uniqueness of the European Union
- Change and Stability in the European Union
- Main Themes of the Book
- Polarisation and politicisation
- The EU in a shifting world
- Representation
- Concluding Remarks
- Part I The Historical Evolution
- 2 The Creation of the European Community
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- The Ragged Nature of the Integration Process in Western Europe
- From Rivalry to Cooperation
- Explaining the Drivers of Integration
- An ‘idealistic’ view of European integration
- Fighting nationalism with common institutions
- Modernisation theories: building an interdependent economy
- Building a European Community
- The creation of the European Coal and Steel Community
- From the ECSC to the EEC
- Dealing with the Capability–Expectations Gap
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- 3 The Deepening of the Integration Process
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- From Economic to Political Union
- Restarting Integration with the Single European Act
- The Maastricht Treaty: Adapting Integration to a New World Order
- The background to and making of the Maastricht Treaty
- The contents of the Maastricht Treaty
- The Amsterdam and Nice Treaties: A Europe in Constant Remaking
- The background to and making of the Amsterdam Treaty
- The contents of the Amsterdam Treaty
- The background to and making of the Nice Treaty
- The contents of the Nice Treaty
- The Constitutional and Lisbon Treaties: In Search of a New Equilibrium
- The Making of the Constitutional Treaty
- Main features of the Constitutional Treaty
- From the Constitutional Treaty to the Lisbon Treaty
- The Contents of the Lisbon Treaty
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- 4 A Union in a Permanent State of Crisis
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- An Era of Polycrisis
- The Economic and Financial Crises
- The banking crisis
- The sovereign debt and euro crisis
- The Refugee Crisis
- From solidarity to legislative deadlock
- Brexit: Crisis or Solution?
- From Euroscepticism to the 2016 referendum
- Negotiating a ‘hard Brexit’
- Covid-19 as the Perfect Polycrisis
- The Invasion of Ukraine: The EU’s Greatest Challenge?
- Challenging European Values to Democracy, Integration and the Rule of Law
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- 5 The Widening of the Integration Process
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- From Deepening to Widening the Process of Integration
- Why Enlarge?
- The First Enlargement: The UK, Denmark and Ireland (1973)
- Transitioning to Democracy: Enlargement to Greece (1981), Spain and Portugal (1986)
- Welcoming the EFTA Net Contributors: Austria, Finland and Sweden (1995)
- The ‘10+2+1’ Enlargement: Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia (2004); Bulgaria and Romania (2007); Croatia (2013)
- Central and Eastern European countries
- Cyprus and Malta
- Croatia
- From Enlargement Fatigue to a Geopolitical Enlargement
- The increasingly contested enlargement to the Western Balkans and the Eastern neighbourhood
- Backlash against EU enlargement in Türkiye
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- Part II Theorising the European Union
- 6 Grand Theories: Why Integrate?
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- Why is it Important to Conceptualise and Theorise the EU?
- Difficulties in Conceptualising the European Union
- Between a state and an international organisation
- State-centrism, consociationalism and federalism
- Multilevel governance
- Cooperation-based Theories
- Neofunctionalism
- Liberal intergovernmentalism
- Cleavage-based Theories
- Postfunctionalism
- New intergovernmentalism
- Differentiated Integration and Disintegration
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- 7 Middle-range Theories: How to Integrate
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- The EU as a Political System
- New Institutionalism
- Rational choice institutionalism
- Sociological institutionalism
- Historical institutionalism
- Actor-centred institutionalism
- Policy Analysis
- Multiple streams framework
- Advocacy coalitions, policy networks and epistemic communities
- Framing, narratives and the role of ideas
- Europeanisation
- Mechanisms of Europeanisation
- Dimensions and outcomes of Europeanisation
- Europeanisation beyond the EU
- Critical Theory
- Migration and internal security
- Postcolonialism
- Gender
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- Part III The Institutions and Political Actors of the European Union
- 8 The Commission
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- The Political and Technical Nature of the Commission
- Structure
- Appointment of the political level
- The president
- The College of Commissioners
- The administrative level
- Decision-making Mechanisms
- Responsibilities
- Proposer and developer of policies
- Initiator and negotiator in legislative decision-making
- External representative and negotiator
- Executive functions
- The guardian of the legal framework
- Power Resources
- Mediator and conciliator
- Promoter of the general interest
- Expertise
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- 9 The Council of the European Union
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- Between Executive and Legislative Powerhouse
- Structure
- Preparatory bodies
- The Council presidency
- General Secretariat
- Decision-making Mechanisms
- Taking decisions
- The conduct of meetings
- Responsibilities
- Policy and lawmaker
- Executive
- Mediator
- Power Resources
- Local expertise
- Power of the purse
- Consensus as a source of power
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- 10 The European Council
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- From Informal to Formal Agenda-setter
- Structure
- Membership
- The European Council president
- Organisation
- Decision-making Mechanisms
- Responsibilities
- Deciding on ‘constitutional’ and institutional matters
- Guiding the economic and monetary policies of the EU
- Enlargements
- External relations
- Specific internal policy issues
- Power Resources
- The mediating role of the president
- The shadow of hierarchy
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- 11 The European Parliament
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- From Talking Shop to Co-legislator
- Elections
- Structure
- Members of the European Parliament
- Political groups
- Committees
- Plenary
- Political bodies
- Decision-making Mechanisms
- Responsibilities
- Agenda-setter
- Policy and lawmaker
- Budgetary authority
- Appointing and controlling the Commission and other European bodies
- Power Resources
- Representing EU citizens
- Building compromises across ideological cleavages
- A visible platform for European values
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- 12 The EU’s Courts
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- Between Reactive and Proactive Control
- Structure
- The Court of Justice of the European Union
- The General Court
- Decision-making Mechanisms
- Responsibilities
- Failure to fulfil an obligation
- Failure to act
- Action to establish liability
- Application for annulment
- Reference for a preliminary ruling
- The seeking of an opinion
- Staff cases
- Appeals
- Power Resources
- Judicial activism
- The legitimacy of non-majoritarian institutions
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- 13 Other Institutions
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- Between Influence and Oblivion
- The European Central Bank
- Structure and decision-making mechanisms
- Responsibilities
- Power resources
- The European Investment Bank
- Structure and decision-making mechanisms
- Responsibilities
- Power resources
- The European Economic and Social Committee
- Structure and decision-making mechanisms
- Responsibilities
- Power resources
- The Committee of the Regions
- Structure
- Responsibilities and decision-making mechanisms
- Power resources
- The Court of Auditors
- Structure
- Responsibilities and decision-making mechanisms
- Power resources
- The European Ombudsman
- Structure
- Responsibilities
- Power resources
- European Agencies
- Structure
- Responsibilities and decision-making mechanisms
- Power resources
- The European External Action Service
- Structure
- Responsibilities
- Power resources
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- 14 Interest Representation
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- Inputting Demands or Biasing Policies?
- Types of Interest Representation
- Business interest groups
- Diffuse interest groups
- Institutional lobbyists
- Access to Decision-makers
- The Commission
- European Council and the Council
- The European Parliament
- Strategies and Influence
- Resources
- Lobbying strategies
- Transparency and the Regulation of Lobbying
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- 15 The Member States
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- Unpacking the Member States
- Inputting Demands
- Elections
- Political parties
- Referenda
- Other forms of direct democracy
- Translating Demands
- Executive actors
- Parliamentary actors
- Judicial actors
- Subnational levels of government
- Turning Inputs into Outputs: Which States Exercise the Most Influence?
- Small vs large member states
- North vs South
- East vs West
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- Part IV Policies and Policy Processes of the European Union
- 16 EU Policies
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- The Origins of EU Policies
- The Sources of EU Law
- Treaties
- Secondary law
- ‘Soft law’
- Judicial interpretation
- International law
- The general principles of EU law
- The Status of EU Law
- Primacy
- Direct effect
- Types of EU Policies
- Regulatory policies
- Redistributive policies
- Distributive policies
- ‘Core state powers’ policies
- Explaining Variation in EU Policies
- Variation in policy competences
- Variation in the extent of EU policy involvement
- Variation in the nature of EU policy involvement
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- 17 EU Policy Processes
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- The Complexity of EU Policy Processes
- Four Policy Modes
- The Community method
- Centralised decision-making
- Intensive transgovernmentalism
- New modes of governance
- The EU’s Policy Cycle
- Agenda-setting and policy formulation
- Decision-making procedures
- Implementation and policy evaluation
- The Shifting Balance between EU Institutions
- Trilogues and the remarkable rise of informal decision-making
- Bicameralism and the need to compromise
- Crisis policy-making under the shadow of the European Council
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- 18 Regulatory Policies
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- Regulatory Policies as a Spillover of the Internal Market
- Understanding the Logic of the Internal Market
- Ideas: balancing economic liberalism and market regulation
- Institutions: from harmonisation to mutual recognition
- Actors: positive and negative integration
- The Ultimate EU Competence: Competition Policy
- Ideas: undistorted competition at the cost of European ‘champions’?
- Institutions: a prime example of centralised decision-making
- Actors: Commission empowerment through decentralisation
- Between Mitigation and Adaptation: Environmental Policy and Climate Change
- Ideas: green and competitive?
- Institutions: towards a more integrated approach to ‘greening’
- Actors: a leader under contestation
- Energy Policy and the Market-Security-Climate Trilemma
- Ideas: towards strategic autonomy in a more uncertain world
- Institutions: de facto differentiated integration
- Actors: an increasingly politicised policy entrepreneurship
- The New Frontier: Digital Policy
- Ideas: from market regulation to digital sovereignty
- Institutions: a path-dependent field built on policy silos
- Actors: a multilayered field of advocacy
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- 19 Redistributive and Distributive Policies
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- The Power of Money in (Re)Distributive Policies
- The Never-ending Reform of the Common Agriculture Policy
- Ideas: from exceptionalism to public good
- Institutions: inflationist bargaining dynamics
- Actors: the importance of farmers as constituency
- Cohesion Policy: From Redistribution to Conditionality
- Ideas: hollowing out the solidarity principle
- Institutions: the realm of multilevel governance
- Actors: between regionalisation and centralisation
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- 20 Core State Powers
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- Building Capacities Beyond the Regulatory State
- The Long Path to Economic and Monetary Union
- Ideas: from ordoliberalism to a ‘Hamiltonian moment’
- Institutions: the challenges of an asymmetric union
- Actors: between independence and informality
- Sharing Welfare: Social Policy
- Ideas: from market-making to welfare chauvinism
- Institutions: intergovernmentalism in ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ law
- Actors: partisan politics and depoliticised networks
- Building Common Borders: The Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
- Ideas: an area still dominated by security concerns
- Institutions: from intergovernmentalism to supranationalism, and back to intergovernmentalism?
- Actors: depoliticisation through externalisation and informality
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- 21 External Policies
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- Regulating Beyond the EU
- Market Power Europe: External Trade
- Ideas: from multilateralism to geoeconomics
- Institutions: principals and agents in a three-level game
- Actors: the growing ‘actorness’ of the Commission
- The Intergovernmentalist Frontier: Foreign and Security Policies
- Ideas: a divided EU in a more geopolitical world
- Institutions: beyond the ‘capabilityexpectations’ gap?
- Actors: the contested ‘Brusselisation’ of EU foreign policy
- The External Dimension of Internal Policies
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- 22 The Budget
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- The Budget in Context
- Budgetary Components
- Revenue
- Expenditure
- Budgetary Decision-making
- Own resources decision
- The MFFs
- The annual budget
- Spending programmes
- Main Budgetary Battles
- Net contributors vs net beneficiaries
- The limitations of a planned economy model
- Budgetary control
- Concluding Remarks
- Recommended Readings
- 23 Present Realities and Future Prospects
- Main Themes of this Chapter
- The European Union and the Changing Nature of the International System
- Reflecting on the Main Themes of the Book
- Polarisation and politicisation
- The EU in a shifting world
- Representation
- The EU in Transition: Exploring Future Scenarios
- Scenario 1: Bellicist integration
- Scenario 2: Failing forward
- Scenario 3: Depoliticised governance
- Scenario 4: Disintegration
- References
- Index
- Imprint