The History of the European Union: Origins of a Trans- and Supra-National Polity 1950-72 - Edited by W. Kaiser, B. Leucht and M. Rasmussen (original) (raw)

2009, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies

This volume serves as another addition to the plethora of introductory EU textbooks currently occupying the marketplace. Like most of its competitors, this book offers chapters concerning the historical evolution of the EU, its institutional infrastructure, the nature of EU policy-making and broader political attitudes towards integration processes. The strongest part of the book is that covering the machinery of governance where students are offered a succinct overview of the key governing institutions and their respective roles. Later chapters also provide useful coverage of decision-making and legislative processes and there is also discussion of a range of individual policy areas. A glossary of terms at the end of each chapter should provide a useful introductory key to the uninitiated and there is some reference to further reading at the end of the book. The latter is, however, relatively brief and its utility is compromised by the author's reference to earlier editions of standard texts which have subsequently been published in revised editions (for example, George and Bache's volume Politics in the European Union is referred to as being 'rather dated' but in its 2001 rather than updated 2006 edition!). Although the book offers much in the way of useful detail on specific issues it is unfortunate that a source published in 2008 should refer, on its back cover, to '25 member governments' when there have been 27 since January 2007. Although the actual content of the volume does offer coverage of the post-2007 enlargement, this initial blip does engender an air of caution in the reader. There are certainly areas of the substantive content which might have benefited from reappraisal. For example, the early chapters on historical evolution are somewhat uneven; whilst some detail is provided on the origins of the integration project, its progress through the 1960s and key developments from the 1980s onwards, coverage of the 1970s is rather scant. Similarly, whilst some introductory material on integration theory is included, this remains arguably underdeveloped (for example, no effective distinction is made between Hoffman's intergovernmentalism and Moravcsik's liberal variant). The chapters making up section 5 on 'Attitudes' are arguably the weakest in structural terms. Although these seek to examine Member State attitudes towards integration processes, the opening heading 'Eligibility for Membership' suggests a discussion on enlargement. The subsequent analysis does indeed consider national attitudes but framing this within the context of successive waves of membership expansion perhaps limits the scope for cross-comparative study of attitudes. It also leads to the