This work shows how the EU has evolved constitutionally beyond the internal market into a highly developed system of multi-level governance. It explores path-breaking reforms for increased parliamentary control of globalization in the WTO and a concrete model for implementation.

On January 1 1995, Austria and Sweden joined the European Union (EU). This book examines why these two countries joined at such a moment and studies their accession against the structural background of globalization. In this cutting-edge analysis, Andreas Bieler argues that conventional neo-functionalist and intergovernmentalist theories fail to explain such structural change as they take existing power structures as given. Therefore, he develops a neo-Gramscian perspective as an alternative approach to European integration.

The Making of the European Union argues that the process of European integration has drifted into serious crisis, perhaps the most serious since the Danes voted against the Treaty of the European Union in 1992. Analysing the conditions for European integration, this book applies a citizens' or 'bottom-up' perspective on the integration process. The difficulties that the constitutional process has encountered illustrate the relevance of bringing public opinion into the analysis of the prospects for European integration. The book describes and analyses the historical, mental, intellectual , and attitudinal denominators of European integration, denominators that have shaped the processes so far and will continue to do so in the future. The authors apply a broad comparative perspective, where European nation-states constitute the primary units of analysis. The focus is on the foundations of European integration, public views about the EU, including various shades of Euroscepticism, and the long-term prospects of the EU. This book will appeal to a wide audience including scholars and researchers in the social sciences - particularly political science, comparative politics and European studies. The book will also be of great interest to journalists and all those involved in the EU, including policy makers and civil servants throughout the EU itself.

Examines the nature of the EU and its external role in relation to social issues raised by globalization. It explores how the EU influences, both directly and indirectly, the rest of the world in relation to the social component of globalization.

This Handbook addresses the increasingly contested issue of profound political importance: Europe's presence in multilateral institutions. It assesses both the evolving role of Europe in international institutions, and the transformations in international institutions themselves.

European Union in the Global Context explores the interplay between the state and state sovereignty, nationalism, European integration and globalisation. It provides essential foundations in these areas, while using stimulating arguments to prompt discussion and provoke interest in the relationships between these processes. It critically analyses the challenges faced by the EU from the contemporary political and economic dynamics of globalisation (IPE), including trading relationships set through the WTO and bilateral relations with emerging markets, especially the BRICS economies. Likewise, pressures from within, such as a resurgence of nationalism, localisation, anti-austerity politics, and Euroscepticism, are examined. While the Union is fundamentally challenged by pressures from above and below, and by its own internal dysfunction, it remains central to the effective management of the international political economy. European Union in the Global Context is a lively, focused and engaging text, incorporating anecdotes and contemporary arguments, and presenting different perspectives on European integration and globalisation. It will be of key interest to students of European Politics, European Studies, European Union Studies, and more broadly, global political economy, foreign and security policy and international relations.

The European Union is a leading actor in international development, providing more than half of the world’s foreign aid, but also a unique case, combining the characteristics of a bilateral and a multilateral donor. Despite the general acknowledgment that policy coordination substantially improves both the effectiveness of foreign aid and the visibility of the EU in the international arena, Member States have consistently resisted any intrusion into what they consider a key area of their national sovereignty. The increases in volume of aid, the ambitious agenda on aid effectiveness, and the adoption of the European Consensus on Development indicate a change of direction. Using development policy as a starting point, this book provides a systematic analysis of the interaction between the European Commission and Member States. It explores the conditions in which the European Commission influences outcomes in the EU decision making process. It ultimately argues that the European Commission plays a leadership role, but this leadership is contingent upon the presence of an institutional entrepreneur, its internal cohesiveness, and the astute use of a repertoire of tactics. Demonstrating that development policy may provide fresh insights into EU integration theory, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of European Politics and International Development.

Since its creation, the European Union (EU) has been a participant in the activities of other International Organisations (IOs) or has been working together with them. Still, little information is available on what this long-term involvement with(in) IOs means for International Relations and European Studies. Why has the EU been involved with(in) IOs on such a long-term basis? How? With what impact? These three key research questions are addressed in this innovative volume, in a bid to explore the continuity of EU action with(in) IOs. While written by a diversity of authors (from European Studies or from International Relations, Europeans or non-Europeans) and from a diversity of disciplines (in particular Law and Political Science), each chapter of the volume elaborates on three common political concepts derived from three-fold questioning: commitment (for the why question), consistency (for the how question), and effects (for the question of impact). Consisting of a two part structure, the book is focussed in Part I on more general trends of the EU’s long-term participation with(in) IOs - with contributions by A. Wetzel, P. Debaere, F. De Ville, J. Orbie, B. Saenen and J. Verschaeve, and P. Nedergaard and M. D. Jensen - and in Part II on more precise case studies on labour standards, public services, flexicurity, human trafficking and security - with contributions by R. Kissack, A. Crespy, E. Xiarchogiannopoulou and D. Tsarouhas, B. Simmons and A. DiSilvestro, and N. Græger. Highly useful for students, academics and experts, this volume combines a clear and easy-to-use framework with new empirical data.

In June 2009 the Institute of European Public Law of the University of Hull assembled a range of experts in relevant fields to offer papers and reach some consensus on what has been achieved in the EU legal order and what the future holds for that order given local tensions and global uncertainty.

This study explores the formation of the European Union's tax policy and asks why member states did not raise objections to it. The author's analysis is enriched by two further levels of inquiry. Firstly, he examines the 'Europeanization' of domestic tax policy in Italy and the UK, asking how domestic policy has changed and what is meant by 'Europeanization'. Secondly, he puts the European Union tax policy in the wider context of tax globalization. Will the liberalization of capital movement, tax havens and the flexibility of multinationals in managing their taxable incomes wreck the European Union's fragile tax policies?