The European Union (EU) poses quite profound questions for scholars and students of the social and political sciences. This benchmark Handbook is designed to provide an authoritative state-of-the art guide to the scope of the field suitable for both established scholars and students of the EU; reflect and contribute to the debates about the nature of the field of EU studies and EU politics in particular; and explore in detail the development of the many approaches to the study of EU politics. Divided into four sections, the Handbook focuses on theorizing European integration; the EU as polity; politics and policy making in the EU; and the EU and the international system.

Overview: The European Union, Politics and Policy-Making

Overview: The European Union, Politics and Policy-Making

Overview: The European Union, politics and policy-making

The Historical Context of EU Policy Studies

Politics within the European Union (EU), historically at least, has been mainly focused around the processes of building common policies and collective legislation. Analyses of these policy processes thus largely provide the basis for the varied interpretations in the academic literature of the overall character of EU politics, including its technocratic features and limited democratic mechanisms. As a partial and multi-layered polity without a clear centre of government the EU lacks many of the dimensions of contestation and democratic engagement that arise in a state where issues relating to the formation, roles, and responsibilities of government across society are continually present. In addition, the geopolitics of ...

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