In Integrating Europe: Informal Politics and Institutional Change the author explains why the European Union (EU) member states actively surrender policy-making power to supranational authorities in unconventional ways. In light of the general antipathy toward giving up national sovereignty in European societies—even where "pro-European" sentiment thrives, why do national governments allow the creation of any new EU laws or policies whose effects they cannot keep under their general control? Why do EU member states allow any sovereignty transfer to occur outside of inter-governmental treaties, which are the only legitimate EU bargains found in the EU's formal sphere? Deploying the tools of rational choice institutionalist theory, the author argues that informal bargains struck between the EU's primary organizational actors - the European Council, European Commission, and European Parliament - have paradoxically resulted in increased integration. As the EU is an ideal laboratory for testing different institutionalist hypotheses for explaining institutional change, the author focuses on the ongoing competition to alter the EU rules that allocate power, and, with an approach that allows for feedback loops among agents and structures, makes an argument that flies in the face of realist and intergovernmentalist theories. While some have shed light on the importance of informal dynamics in the legal sphere of the EU, this book does the same for the policy-making sphere.

By and large, EU financial integration has been a success story. Still, the reform agenda is far from finished. What are the remaining challenges? What are the gains of closer financial market integration? This IMF book tracks the European Union's journey along the path to a single financial market and identifies the challenges and priorities that remain ahead. It pays particular attention to the most recent integration efforts in the European Union following the introduction of the euro. The study looks at the importance of financial integration, in particular for economic growth, the interplay between banks and markets, and equity market integration. It closely examines the relationship between financial integration and financial stability. This interaction presents the European Union with a challenge, but also with the opportunity to play a pioneering role in developing a regional approach to financial stability that could provide lessons for the rest of the world.

With the harmonization of the EU economies, and issues of EU enlargement and integration with Europe's transition economies topping the political agenda, the economic geography of Europe is being recast. This important volume analyses the spatial implications of the integration-transition process, and examines key issues such as north-south and east-west divides, regional cooperation and cross-border dynamics.

'The daunting task of providing the "big picture" of the economic changes occurring today in Europe has been masterfully achieved by the editors R. Scott Hacker and his colleagues - Börje Johansson and Charlie Karlsson. The fact that they do this in conjunction with historical and statistical data, which adds to the overall economic backdrop of this climate, only adds to the impressiveness of this collection.' - Joan M. Jackson, Business Information Alert Providing a picture of the processes of economic change in Europe, of which EU harmonization policies and transition policies form an integral part, the editors present a collection of articles on current issues in central and east European countries.

Why has Iceland not sought membership of the European Union? This unique volume uses the case study of Iceland - the only Nordic state to have never applied for EU membership - to explore the complex attitudes of small states to European intergration and provide a new theoretical approach for understanding such relationships. The contributors explain why the Icelandic political elite has been relunctant to participate in European integration. In this context, they analyse the influence that Iceland's special relationship with the US and the fisheries sector have had on their dealings with the EU. Also considered are 'new' variables, such as national administrative characteristics and particular features of the domestic arena of the political elite, as well as the elite's perception of international relations and its political discourse concerning independence and sovereignty. Iceland and European Integration will appeal to all those interested in European integration and the international relations of small states

Far from displaying a uniform pattern, European integration varies significantly across policy areas and individual countries. Why do some member states choose to opt out of specific EU policies? Why are some policies deeply integrated whereas others remain intergovernmental? In this updated second edition, the authors introduce the most important theoretical approaches to European integration and apply these to the trajectories of key EU policy areas. Arguing that no single theory offers a completely convincing explanation of integration and differentiation in the EU, this thought-provoking book provides a new synthesis of integration theory and an original way of thinking about what the EU is and how it works.

The first years of the 90s have witnessed thorough political and economic changes in northern Europe. The long period of strong political separation between east and west and the less strong economic separation between the northern and southern sides of the Baltic Sea seemed to be replaced by far-reaching integration. There is no doubt that further integration will have additional impacts on the regional patterns in northern Europe. The amplitude and composition of these changes are difficult to project. In this volume a number of scholars in regional science and related disciplines (geography, economics, environmental and political sciences, planning) have brought together important material on the current processes that reshapes northern Europe. Visions andstrategies on local, national and supranational levels are penetrated in depth. A "mosaic" vision of the regional development pattern emerges highlighting the importance of cooperative and competitive strategies affecting the local conditions of European regions.

The debate over European integration is a central issue in the study of contemporary Europe. This book seeks to guide the student through the most important of the integration theories and academic literature on this vital topic. The reader starts with an expansive and wide ranging introductory essay which offers a clear overview and analysis of the shifting terms of the debate on European integration during the post-war period. Part two provides key extracts from the seminal authors who have contributed to and fashioned this debate throughout its duration. It brings together the most important parts from the most essential and influential literature on this important topic. This reader will be of value to the growing number of students, at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, who are undertaking courses in European studies and European politics. It will be especially useful to those who require some knowledge of the origins and developments of this important issue at the centre of the debate over Europe.

The authors engage a dialogue between European integration theories and gender studies. The contributions illustrate where and how gender scholarship has made creative use of integration theories and thus contributes to a vivid theoretical debate. The chapters are designed to make gender scholarship more visible to integration theory and, in this way stimulates the broader theoretical debates. Investigating the whole range of integration theory with a gender lens, the authors illustrate if and how gender scholarship has made or can make creative use of integration theories.

The authors uniquely present the Turkish view of integration within the broad context of the debates on Europeanisation and sovereignty, but with a specific focus on the internal debates and issues in Turkey itself.