The European Commission And The Integration Of Europe

Based on interviews with 137 top Commission officials, this 2002 book challenges assumptions about the European Commission.

The contributors to this volume, all leading specialists in the field of EU studies, examine the trajectory of the EU and draw on the theoretical tools of historical institutionalism to assess the central political challenges facing the EU.

This volume assesses the merits of institutionalist research on the European Union. It offers a comprehensive review of the field and detailed analytical studies of diverse decision making processes and policies. It engages the different strands in institutionalism in serious dialogue. Prop onenets of rationalist, historical and sociological tendencies present original research and criticise each other's contributions in constructive ways.

Laura Cram takes a fresh view at attempts to conceptualize the process of European integration. Her book explores the impact of the day to day work of policy maker, interest groups and bureaucrats in influencing the environment in which European Treaty formulation and ratification are taken. She sheds new light on the wide range of policy areas in which institutions such as the Commission of the European Union and the European Court of Justice have succeded in expanding the scope of EU competence despite national government opposition.

With a focus on governmental institutions, this book explores the ways in which EU membership has altered the balance of power among key political actors. The authors discuss cultural adaptation to integration, as well as examining the views of the elite and voters. The transformation in national identity, sovereignty and neutrality are also examined.

Europe is a continent whose history has, in one form or another, long been dominated by integration. And yet the European integration process is often treated as synonymous with the evolution of just one particular, and until recently geographically quite limited, Western-centred organisation: the European Union (EU). This trend obscures the multitude of ways European states have acted collectively on both sides of the Iron Curtain – and continue to do so throughout the continent today. With contributors drawn from history and political science, this book explores some of these diverse integration efforts ‘beyond Brussels’. We shine a light on international organisations, trade frameworks, and various political, social, scientific and cultural forms of unity in both Eastern and Western Europe. In so doing, the book seeks to redefine the history of the European integration process not only as a less purely EU-centric phenomenon but as a less strictly Western European one too.

The foundation of the European Union was one of the most important historical events in the second half of the 20th century. In order to fully appreciate the modern state of the EU, it is crucial to understand the history of European integration. This accessible overview differs from other studies in its focus on the major roles played by both the United States and European multinational corporations in the development of the European Union. Chronologically written and drawing on new findings from two major archives (the archives of the US State Department and Archive of European Integration), this book sheds crucial new light on the integration process. The History of European Integration offers a major contribution to our understanding of Europe’s postwar history, and will be essential reading for any student of postwar European History, Contemporary History, European Politics and European Studies.