European Disunion - Between Sovereignty and Solidarity

The Euro crisis catapulted the European Union into its most serious political crisis since its inception, leaving it simultaneously torn between opposing demands for more sovereignty and solidarity. Throughout its history, the Union has been plagued by power struggles between its member states. Periodic crises have been met by indecision and compromise that put securing agreement above effective outcomes. The complexity of its decision making processes is mainly due to the refusal to concentrate power and wish to preserve enough semblance of national sovereignty to retain the respect and loyalty of member state citizens. This edited volume focuses on the key themes of disunion, sovereignty and solidarity. It assesses all of the main EU institutions: member states, civil society actors and policy areas.

Introduction;Jack Hayward and Rüdiger K.W. Wurzel 1. Union without Concensus; J.Hayward Part I Enfeebled Democratic Legitimacy 2. The Difficult Emergence of a European People; Michael Bruter 3. A Nascent Transnational Civili Society; Elizabeth Monaghan 4. An Obdurately National Party Politics; Robert Ladrech Part II Institutional Deadlock: A Surfeit of Would-be Leaders 5. National Governments, the European Council and Councils of Ministers: A Plurality of Sovereignties. Member State Soverreigns without an EU Sovereign; Jack Hayward 6. The European Commission Bureaucracy: Handling Sovereingty throught the Back and Front Doors; Edward C. Page 7. The Empowerment of Parliaments in EU Interrogations: Victims or Victors?; Maja Kluger Rasmussen 8. National Courts and European Union Courts; Patrick Birkinshaw 9. Defending the Euro: Unity and Disunity among Europe's Central Bankers; David Howarth 10. Territorial Flexibility; Michael Keating Part III Policy Divergences and Convergences 11. Foreign and Defence Policy: The Sovereignty Obsession and the Quest for Elusive Solidarity; Anand Menon 12. Economics and Monetary Disunion?; Kenneth Dyson 13. Social and Labour Market Policy: The (Re-)Emergence of Competitive Tension; Nick Parsons 14. From Environmental Disunion towards Envirnomental Union?: Rüdiger K.W. Wurzel Part IV Adjusting to the REceding Sovereignty of Member States 15. A Contested Franco-German Duumvirate; William Paterson 16. Opt-out: Britain's Unsplendid Isolation; Philip Norton 17. The Nordic Countries: The Causes and Consequences of Variable Geometry; Nick Sitter 18. Southern European and the 'Trade-off': Architects of European Disunion?; Martin J. Bull 19. The Central and East European Countries: From Weak Latecomers to Good Citizens of the Union; Vesselin Dimitrov Conclusion: European Disunion: Between Solidarity and Sovereignty; Rüdiger K.W. Wurzel and Jack Hayward