This book analyses the European Court of Justice's power from a political-science perspective. It argues that this power can be assessed through studying the policy implications of there being a supranational constitution that was drafted as an international treaty. An international treaty contains a set of policy goals for future cooperation. Direct effect and supremacy give constitutional status to these policy goals, allowing the Court to develop the Treaty's implications for policymaking at the European and the member-state levels. By focusing on the four freedoms (of goods, services, persons, and capital) and citizenship rights, the book analyses the implications of case law for policymaking in different case studies. It shows how major EU legislation (for instance, the Services and Citizenship Directives) are significantly influenced by case law and how controversial policies, such as EU citizens' access to tax-financed social benefits, are closely linked to the Court.

ÔThis well-constructed, and well-written, collection fills a gap in the scholarship. It offers a rounded and plausible picture of the CourtÕs role in Europe, engaging with the complexity of the law without losing sight of the bigger political picture. Well-contextualised, critical, but nuanced, discussions of the role of rights, economics, science, and institutions, and of the important particularities of EU adjudication, will make this volume unmissable for those interested in the political role of the Court of Justice of the EU.Õ Ð Gareth Davies, VU University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands This book delves into the rationale, components of, and responses to accusations of judicial activism at the European Court of Justice. Detailed chapters from academics, practitioners and stakeholders bring diverse perspectives on a range of factors Ð from access rules to institutional design and to substantive functions Ð influencing the European CourtÕs political role. Each of the contributing authors invites the reader to approach the debate on the role of the Court in terms of a constantly evolving set of interactions between the EU judiciary, the European and national political spheres, as well as a multitude of other actors vested in competing legitimacy claims. The book questions the political role of the Court as much as it stresses the opportunities Ð and corresponding responsibilities Ð that the CourtÕs case law offers to independent observers, political institutions and civil society organisations. Judicial Activism at the European Court of Justice will appeal to researchers and graduate students as well as to EU and national officials.

Examining the emergence of a European Union telecommunications policy, Joseph Goodman explains how and why the policy developed as it did and why certain reforms in the sector were easier to achieve than others. He provides a history of the key actors in the policy-making process from the first attempts by the national postal, telegraph, and telecommunication administrations to coordinate their telecommunications policies in the 1950s, to the implementation of a comprehensive EU telecommunications regulatory structure in 1998 and the development of a new regulatory structure in 2003. The analytical framework employed by the author draws upon new institutionalism and actor-based approaches, providing an opportunity to evaluate the utility of a synthetic approach for examining and explaining EU policy-making. The focus of his analysis is on the European Commission's two-pronged strategy of liberalisation and harmonisation, which began in the late 1980s and culminated in an important milestone on January 1st 1998, when the EU Member States fully opened their telecommunications markets to competition. He concludes that a synthetic approach, which enables the researcher to apply a number of approaches to multiple settings and various levels of analysis, is useful - even necessary - in understanding and explaining the many dimensions of EU policy-making. This authoritative study will be of interest to all those in the telecommunications industry - including attorneys, consultants, and lobbyists - who would like to know how the EU's policy developed. It will appeal, more generally, to political scientists and scholars of European history and politics.

The complex patterns of policy making and implementation in the European Union pose particular challenges for policy analysis. This groundbreaking new text equips readers with a thorough understanding of how EU policy is formulated, implemented and evaluated and with the tools and concepts needed to analyze the EU policy process.

This is a fully revised edition of a well-established text for students. It offers an invaluable and up-to- date interpretation of the European policy process. Helen Wallace and William Wallace have assembled a team of internationally-renowned authors to present fourteen case studies --ranging from analyses of the CAP and environmental policy, to the politics of Economic and Monetary Union and the new World Trade Organisation. Helen Wallace also provides, in the two opening chapters, an introduction and overview of European politics, policy, and institutions. In concluding thevolume, William Wallace reflects on the future for the EU as it faces calls for ever closer political integration. Policy-Making in the European Union provides the student with a timely and provocative insight into European integration in a period of critical change.

How are decisions made in the EU?