First published in 1999, this volume contributed to the debate on the European Union in furthering the study of environmental policy and, expressly, by introducing promising young scholars to the debate. The volume is based on a series of seminars for the Interdisciplinary Research Network on Environment and Safety (IRNES) with funding from the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). These new scholars explore areas including post-decisional politics, sustainability and agricultural biotechnology regulation.

Governmentality and EU External Trade and Environment Policy applies theories drawn from Foucauldian governmentality studies to investigate the ideological and political roots of the European Union (EU)’s external trade and environmental policy and their effects on the transnational legal landscape. The EU’s desire to spread environmental norms abroad is viewed in the book as a significant feature of contemporary EU trade policy. The EU’s activities in this area have not been uncontroversial for other transnational legal actors. States, individuals, and organizations have challenged the EU’s various trade and environment policies, arguing that they are coercive, unfair, over-reaching, or inefficient. Meanwhile, these policies have also raised a number of questions from the perspective of legality and political theory. This book considers what the practice of EU external trade and environment policy, and international resistance to it, tells us about the way the EU perceives the role and limits of transnational government, the means and ends of politics, and the drivers of human and institutional behavior. Jessica Lawrence examines the legal and political discourse of the EU and those affected by its policies. By studying legal cases, statements by officials, legislative texts, press releases, and other representative documents the book identifies the rationalities, technologies, and subjectivities that underlie contemporary EU activity in this area. The overall effect paints a more complicated and nuanced picture of the EU’s vision of itself and its goals; one that ultimately seeks to provide a better understanding of the functioning of power in this area.

This book reflects on the latest developments in discourse analysis in the context of EU politics research. It explores discourse analysis as a tool to study and understand EU politics, covering key conceptual, methodological and research-strategic questions. The analytical approach advanced in this book is anchored in discursive institutionalism, the newest addition to approaches in new institutionalism. The author particularly focuses on discourse as a strategic resource for political purposes, as a device for inclusion and exclusion in policy-making, and as a means of conveying and appealing to political emotions, as well as the role visual discourse and imagery play in day-to-day EU politics. Including a variety of examples using different combinations of research techniques and data material, the book also addresses issues related to the study of discursive structures and agency, discourse conflict and consensus, causality and the time dimension in discourse analysis.

The European Union (EU) has sought to establish itself as a global environmental leader but was hit by the combined effects of the economic and financial crisis from 2007-8 leading some to question whether the EU could continue to adopt ambitious environmental policy. This volume brings together leading environmental policy scholars to analyse the impacts of the crisis upon environmental policy in the EU and its member states. Authors analyse whether environmental policy has been dismantled, expanded or stayed the same. If policy has been dismantled, the kind of strategy adopted is analysed (active, symbolic, arena-shifting, or dismantling by default), and at what levels change has occurred. The Index of Policy Activity (IPA) is applied systematically across the cases, which combine quantitative with qualitative analysis. Non-European cases are also included to provide a counterpoint for comparison. The book finds that whilst the EU has not actively dismantled environmental policy, its economic policies have had negative effects upon some Member States, prompting policy dismantling. Climate and energy policies have seen some policy expansion but there are examples, most notably the UK, where there has also been active policy dismantling. The main trend is one of stasis - environmental policy in Europe is judged to have plateaued calling into question Europe's much-vaunted environmental leadership. The book contributes to scholarship on environmental policy and public administration, combining empirical and methodological insights to give an up to date perspective on the impact of crisis upon European environmental policy.

This book examines the development and implementation of the EU’s legislative framework on the commercial release of GMO products as a case study of social regulation operating within a predominantly technical framework. The analysis and findings are based on an extensive documentary analysis and interviews with regulators, risk assessors, public interest groups and biotechnology experts at the national and European levels. It argues that in the case of the EU biotechnology framework, the particular institutional settings created for the formulation and interpretation of its provisions have been of decisive importance in elaborating a proceduralised ‘science-based’ prior authorization scheme as the preferred framework for granting commercial permits. This interdisciplinary work will appeal to EU lawyers, decision-makers and risk managers as well as academics working in the fields of EU studies, politics, law, risk governance sociology of science/risk and technology assessment. The book is based on a PhD thesis that was awarded with the 2008 UACES Prize for the Best Thesis in European Studies in Europe and with the EPEES 1st Prize for the Best Thesis written by a Greek Researcher between 2004 and 2008.

Legitimacy, along with security and democracy, is arguably one of the most widely used global buzzwords of the new millennium. Yet, the idea of political legitimacy is not new and has been constructed in different ways at different moments in history. This book problematizes this notion, from various contextual standpoints, disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. Taking a comparative, transnational and bottom-up approach to the study of political legitimacy, this book sheds light on multiple perceptions by different actors (institutions, civil society, majoritarian and minority subjects), analysing the notion of political legitimacy from a critical perspective. Questioning received wisdom or one-size-fits-all analyses, it leads to a reassessment of the link between legitimacy and sovereignty, and emphasises the demand by transnational civil society to go beyond identity politics, which produce logics of violence. This book was originally published as a special issue of Global Discourse.

This book focuses on how discourse and various narratives contribute to the construction of the European Union as a political actor, thus seeking to challenge the more established approaches to the study of the Union. It sheds light on the way discourses about the European Union are created, perpetuated and then translated into policy outcomes. Most of the contributions attempt to account for the differences that usually arise between discourse and policy practices. The methods employed range from more traditional variants of discourse analysis to other more radical versions that emphasize power, or to critical or differential reading of policy narratives and ethnography. Policy areas such as trade, enlargement, foreign policy and the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) are discussed, while a particular interest is awarded to the European Parliament and the Commission. In doing so, the contributions shed light on the role discourse plays in relation to policies, institutional practices, and value representations at the European level. Moreover, the authors analyse the different actors and structures that create and perpetuate discourses within the EU, highlighting new insights that a focus on discourse can bring to the field of European Union studies. This book was published as a special issue of Perspectives on European Politics and Society.

This book analyses the evolution of the sustainability discourse in the European Union, exploring the conditions necessary for sustainable development to move from a conceptual model into a model for action for strategic decision makers at all levels of governance. This book questions the extent to which the discourse on sustainability has become embedded into governance structures in Europe. It focuses on the importance of the nature of the language of the political discourse on sustainability and how ideas are communicated amongst the actors and stakeholders in the policy making process, as well as assessing the conceptual, political, institutional and operational barriers apparent across the European geographic region. Drawing case studies from numerous policy areas including climate change, EU emissions trading scheme, renewable energy, nuclear energy, the European integrated energy market, transport mobility, and environmental protection, expert contributors unveil a narrowing of the discourse on sustainability that has taken place in Europe. However, a considerable discontinuity remains between the economic and environmental objectives of sustainable development, and the authors argue that it is essential that conditions for a dynamic discourse, open to multiple participants, are developed. Sustainable Development and Governance in Europe will be of strong interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, governance, sustainable development and environmental politics and studies.

This Handbook covers all major aspects of EU Cohesion policy, one of the most significant areas of intervention of the European Union. Over five parts, It discusses this policy’s history and governing principles; the theoretical approaches from which it can be assessed; the inter-institutional and multi-level dynamics that it tends to elicit; its practical implementation and impact on EU member states; its interactions with other EU policies and strategies; and the cognitive maps and narratives with which it can be associated. An absolute must for all students of the EU.

Accessible and engaging, this is a complete guide to the past, present, and future of the European Union. An expert author team examine in detail the theory and history behind the EU, before moving on to explore the institutions and policies at work, giving readers a valuable insight to this complicated political body.