European Integration: From Nation-States To Member States

Description: European integration confuses citizens and scholars alike. It appears to transfer power away from national capitals towards Brussels yet a close study of the EU reveals the absence of any real leap towards supranationalism. The EU is dominated by cooperation between national representatives and national officials yet it continually appears to us as something external and separate from national political life. This book takes on these paradoxes by arguing that European integration should no longer be studied as the transcendence of states or as merely an expression of national interests. Rather, we should approach it as a process of state transformation. This transformation is from nation-state to member state. The book explores in detail the concept of member state, arguing that it provides us with the best tool for understanding the European integration process. Member states differ from traditional nation-states. They are not founded on the idea of popular sovereignty or the nation. They rest upon the idea that the governance of domestic societies requires external frameworks of rule that can bind the hands of national politicians. National authority is thus exercised through external rules and norms. Member statehood differs from earlier forms of statehood because it rests upon a presumption of conflict between state and society rather than an identity of interests between ruler and ruled. The book outlines in empirical detail these mysteries and paradoxes of European integration. It then outlines in detail the theory and history of member statehood. It applies the concept of member state to the study of two EU policy areas: macro-economic governance and foreign and security policy.

Review: Bickertons intelligent, thoroughly researched, and unusually perceptive book is a very welcome innovative intervention in what is otherwise a largely stale debate on the nature and telos of European integration. It is beautifully and accessibly written and should be obligatory reading for all students and teachers of European politics, member state foreign policy, and international relations more broadly. Annette Freyberg-Inan, Swiss Political Science Review, European Integration is a masterful reconsideration of the nature and trajectory of the EU. It breaks new ground with its compelling argument that European integration is best understood as a process of state transformation from nation-state members into member-states. And it raises thoughtful questions about the consequences of member statehood for Europe both internally, with regard to democracy, and externally, in terms of its international presence. A highly readable book, it should be recommended to friends, students, and colleagues who keep asking what is the EU, how it works and why does Europe need it. Vivien A. Schmidt is Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration and Director of the Center for the Study of Europe, Boston University Bickerton's superb book brings the EU back to earth...Never has a book been so timely. Bruno Waterfield, Daily Telegraph This insightful and original book will broaden our understanding of the present-day crisis of European integration... an extremely valuable intellectual resource. Jan Zielonka, Professor of European Politics, University of Oxford This is by far the conceptually most innovative contribution to the study of European integration that I have seen in decades. It impressively links the study of the European Union, all too often pursued as a stand-alone speciality, to comparative politics, the political economy of postwar capitalism, international relations, and theories of contemporary statehood. The book places its subject in the context of the still ongoing dissolution of the Keynesian corporatist order of the Golden Age. It combines rich historical narrative with painstaking and highly original conceptual work, as well as with a grounded understanding of the difficult problems currently faced by the European state system. Wolfgang Streeck, Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne, Germany

Contents: Preface and Acknowledgements ; List of Acronyms ; List of Figures and Tables ; Introduction ; PART I ; 1. Europe's Compromising Union ; 2. The Member State Paradigm ; 3. From Nation-States to Member States: A Brief History ; PART II ; 4. European Economic Integration and State Transformation ; 5. From Nation-States to Member States in European Foreign Policy ; Conclusion ; Bibliography ; Index



Author Biography: Chris J. Bickerton obtained his PhD in International Relations from the University of Oxford. He has taught at Oxford and the University of Amsterdam and is currently Associate Professor of International Relations at Sciences Po, Paris. He has published widely on international politics and European integration and is the author of European Union Foreign Policy: From Effectiveness to Functionality (Palgrave, 2011). He writes frequently for the European press, is a regular contributor to Le Monde Diplomatique and is co-founder of the political economy blog, The Current Moment .
Winner of the Best Book of 2013 prize awarded by the University Association of Contemporary European Studies (UACES)