On Governing Europe

Governing Europe is the first book to systematically link Michel Foucault's hypotheses on power and 'governmentality' with the study of European integration. Through a series of empirical encounters that spans the fifty-year history of European integration, it explores both the diverse political dreams that have framed means and ends of integration and the political technologies that have made 'Europe' a calculable, administrable domain. The book illustrates how a genealogy of European integration differs from conventional approaches. By suspending the assumption that we already know what/where Europe is, it opens a space for analysis where we can ask: how did Europe come to be governed as this and not that? The themes covered by this book include: * the different constructions of Europe within discourses of modernization, democratization, insecurity and 'governance' * the imprint of modernism, liberalism, ordoliberalism, neoliberalism and crime on the identity of the European Community/European Union * the historical relationship between European government and specific technologies of power, technologies as diverse as planning, price control, transparency and benchmarking.

Based on the research of the EU-6th framework funded research consortium on 'New Modes of Governance in the European Union', this volume explores the roots, execution and applications of new forms of governance and evaluates their success.

An original new textbook providing an up-to-date, critical perspective of how the EU works, and what issues it faces, in the post-crisis era.

Governing Europe is intended to be the leading advanced survey of politics in Western Europe. It examines in detail all aspects of political life in Western Europe, from public protest to core executives, social policy to Europe's place in the world. It brings together a world-class team of leading scholars from the United Kingdom, continental Europe and North America. The contributions provide not only a sophisticated introduction to the various issues covered, but also a detailed discussion of the major theoretical and empirical debates and developments in the field. The book therefore provides both a comprehensive overview and a series of original contributions to scholarly debate. The focus is on European core executives, public administration, parties and organised interests, democracy and popular participation, public policy and the changing European state. It wil be essential reading to scholars and students alike. The volume is intended as a tribute to the late Vincent Wright of Nuffield College, Oxford University.

The complex relationship between globalization and European integration was largely shaped in the 1970s. During this decade, globalization began, for the first time, to threaten Western European prosperity. Using an innovative approach, the book shows how western Europeans coped with the challenges of globalization during a time of deep economic crisis during the period 1973-1986. It examines the evolution of economic and social policies at the national, European and global level and expands beyond the European Economic Community (EEC) by analysing the various solutions envisaged by European decision-makers towards regulating globalization, including the creation of the Single Market. Based on extensively examined archives of transnational actors, international organizations and focusing on the governments of France, Germany and the UK, as well as the European Commission, the book uncovers deep, previously unknown, economic divisions among these actors and the roles they played in the success of the EEC. This book will be of key interest to students, scholars and practitioners of political science, European studies, history, comparative politics, public policy and economic history.

Comparative Media Policy, Regulation and Governance in Europe - Unpacking the Policy Cycle represents the continuation and further development of a long tradition of media policy books, focusing on the development of media structures and media policy within Europe. It provides a comprehensive overview of the current European media in a period of more or less disruptive transformation. It maps the full scope of contemporary media policy and industry activities while also assessing the impact of new technologies and radical changes in distribution and consumption on media practices, organisations and strategies. Dealing with a good selection of critical issues in comparative media policy, regulation and governance, the book combines a critical assessment of media systems with a thematic approach. It starts out with the state of affairs at the level of media platforms, approaching these from a functional perspective, i.e. opinion and debate, news provision and entertainment. The book is both an academic book and a text book, as well as a source providing good practices for steering media policy, international communication and the media landscape across Europe.

Governing the New Europe provides a comprehensive and scholarly account of the changing political map of Europe as it emerges from the Cold War. Exploring the variations of liberal democracy and market economy among the European states, as well as current trends in these directions, the contributors to this volume, all leading authorities in European politics, consider whether a common political model has begun to emerge out of historic European diversity. Beginning with a discussion of the political, economic, and cultural development of Europe from a historical perspective, the focus of the book shifts to an examination of the changing forms of European democracy and the move from public ownership and planning to privatization and deregulated competition. Further essays analyze the challenge to national party systems and electoral performance from emerging social movements and organized interest groups. Political and bureaucratic structures are also examined as is the new European constitutionalism reflected in the increasingly significant role of the judiciary. Lastly, attention is turned to several major themes in European politics: the changing foundations of foreign and security policy, the function of industrial champion firms, and the retreat from the welfare state. Primarily comparative in its scope, Governing the New Europe does devote particular attention to specific major states as well as to the importance of the European Union to the political life of member and non-member countries. Neither exaggerating the common features of the patterns that have emerged in contemporary Europe nor capitulating to the complexity of enduring differences and instabilities between states, Governing the New Europe will become one of the standard texts in its field. Contributors. Jack Hayward, Jolyon Howorth, Herbert Kitschelt, Marie Lavigne, Tom Mackie, Michael Mezey, Edward C. Page, Richard Parry, Richard Rose, Anthony Smith, Alec Stone

Conforming neither to the hierarchical and bureaucratic organization of the European nation-state nor the anarchical structure of international organizations, the European Union (EU) and its predecessors provide an exemplary site for developing a decentred approach to the study of governance. The book offers an analysis of the formation and transformation of the EU as an example of governance above the nation-state and is framed by the recognition that the construction of the EU has resulted in variegated and decentred forms of governance. The chapters look at distinct aspects of EU governance to bring to light the influence of elite narratives, scientific rationalities, local traditions and meaningful practices in the making and remaking of European governance. As such, each chapter offers a unique contribution to the study of the EU. In doing so, the book challenges dominant narratives of European integration and policymaking that appeal to reified rationalities and social structures, and uncovers the contingency and conflict endemic to European governance. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of European Union politics, European politics/studies, governance and, more broadly, to public management, international organizations, anthropology and sociology.