Bücher der Reihe Routledge/UACES Contemporary European Studies

Investigates the existence of a dichotomy between the capacity of European Commission committee governance to improve system effectiveness and provide efficiency gains as well as sustain democratic credentials. This book asks whether legitimacy and efficiency may be reconciled or become partially compatible in European Commission committees.

Informed by and against the backdrop of the 2019 European Parliament (EP) elections, this innovative book provides a critical assessment of where Europe stands in terms of the quest for achieving democratic legitimacy.

The volume sets out to explain how such an innately contradictory phenomenon as transnational Euroscepticism has emerged. It draws on a variety of perspectives and case studies in a number of spheres ¿ the European Parliament, political parties, the media, civil society and public opinion. Examining to what extent the pan-European dimension of Euroscepticism is becoming increasingly influential, it argues that opposition to European integration has for too long been viewed somewhat narrowly, through the paradigm of national party politics.

EU foreign and defence policy is largely formulated in the working parties and committees of the Council of the EU and the vast majority of decisions in this field are made by the national diplomats working in the around 35 groups of the CFSP/CSDP.Although the importance of these committees and their participants has been increasingly recognised, we still know relatively little about them. Using an original database of 138 questionnaires and 37 interviews, this book addresses this lack of knowledge, studying what these committees do and how they negotiate and resolve issues. It explores three key areas: the formulation of the national position; the identity of CFSP/CSDP policy-makers; negotiation practices and outputs. In doing so, it provides an innovative observation point from which EU foreign policy can be analysed.

This ground-breaking volume provides a new perspective on the EU¿s foreign policy and offers a reconstruction of EU research that extends beyond narrow-minded concepts of `power¿ and `actorness¿. Focusing on two intertwined research questions, it presents a more sustainable base for studying EU foreign policy: What is the EU¿s foreign policy quality in terms of `actorness¿ and `power¿ compared to other types of actors in international relations and global politics? What factors influence the EU¿s foreign policy performance in comparison to states and international organizations? This guiding principle and application of a `grounded theory¿ or `heuristic case study¿ approach allows the book to deliver a structured comparative analysis of EU foreign policy, comparing findings across policy fields, different legal foundations and respective policy modes of governance.

The book investigates the scope and limitations of the transformative power of EU enlargement in the Western Balkans.

Culture is one of the most complex and contested fields of European integration. This book analyzes EU cultural politics, both at the central as well as at local levels, since their emergence in the 1980s with a particular focus on the European Capital of Culture program, the flagship of EU cultural policy.

Offers a comprehensive analysis of long- and short-term EU conflict prevention and crisis management policies undertaken in various theatres and policy domains, featuring case studies on West Africa, Afghanistan, and Morocco.

Explores the EU's relations with civil society organizations in an effort to improve the effectiveness and relevance of its conflict and peace policies.

Explores how European institutions address the issues of the plurality of religious faiths and ethical beliefs in a multicultural society and assesses how this impacts on political integration. This book focuses on the issues of differential treatment across Europe.

Examines the governance of - and politics of regulating - financial services in the EU. This title provides an analysis since the establishment of Economic and Monetary Union and the Financial Services Action Plan, and assesses the EU response to the global financial crisis.

Analyzes the development of the European Parliament's (EP) committees and their relationship with political parties in the light of the EP's increased legislative role.

Informed by and against the backdrop of the 2019 European Parliament (EP) elections, this innovative book provides a critical assessment of where Europe stands in terms of the quest for achieving democratic legitimacy.

Using fresh theoretical insights and empirical data, this title develops a model to analyze the transitional processes of Romania, Turkey, Serbia and Ukraine. Offering a different stance from most of the literature on the subject, this book makes an important contribution to our knowledge of the international dimensions of democratization.

The delegation of policy-competencies to the European Union has changed the context in which national actors form their interests and represent them. Shaping European markets and societies, EU regulation has important effects in the member states. This book analyses how business interest organizations respond to this challenge.

Sets out to re-conceptualize the history of the European Union (EU) as the gradual emergence over time of a European-level polity: a supranational political system with a complex institutional set-up and policy-making structures.

Examines the complex negotiation processes surrounding intergovernmental conferences in the European Union. By presenting a quantitative study of the Intergovernmental Conference of 1996/7 prior to the Treaty of Amsterdam, this book argues that these negotiations reveal the major challenges of European integration.

The European Union is a leading actor in international development, providing more than half of the world's foreign aid. Using development policy, this book provides analysis of the interaction between the European Commission and Member States by exploring the conditions in which European Commission influences outcomes in EU decision making.

Identifies measures and compares public awareness and perceptions of the EU within the Asia-Pacific region. This book deals with the under-researched issue of the public perception of the EU outside the Union and the role of the media in shaping such perceptions.

Offers a sociologically grounded explanation of the changing features of governance and democracy within Europe in an era that empowers new actors, and in the context of broader changes in society.

An examination of the European Union, as it departs from its path of integration, this book discusses the indications of the development and explains why it happened only a decade after an enthusiasm in the early 1990s. The question was whether the EU would become less important for the member states or whether the German pattern would prevail.

This book presents an up-to-date, scholarly analysis of the foreign and development policy dilemmas facing Europe today. It will be essential reading for students of development policy, external relations and international affairs.

Explaining the origins and key institutions, this book provides an assessment of the European Union's leadership role in international climate change politics, with case studies on Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, businesses and environmental NGOs.

This book offers comprehensive coverage of various aspects of financial accountability around the EU budget - how it is spent via policies, how institutions engage in checking policy performance, and therein, the issues of monitoring, controlling, auditing, scrutinising and communicating budgetary expenditure.