Key controversies in European integration, 2nd edition

Since its inception the European Union has been a fiercely contested and politically divisive project. In recent years, controversial issues such as EU enlargement, the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, and the fallout from the Eurozone crisis have tested the EU to its limits and divided public opinion in the process.

This volume brings together leading scholars from around the world to debate the nature, current state and future of European integration. The contributors represent the whole spectrum of thinking about the European Union, ranging from pro-European to openly Eurosceptic perspectives. Within the book, chapters present two opposing perspectives on a wide range of controversies. Among the issues discussed are: how efficient is the European Union? Has the European project been a success? Will the Eurozone survive in its present state? And can the EU tame big finance? This text provides an overview of the most important issues in contemporary EU politics.

Contents:

1. The European Union: Success or failure?
- Why Europe works - John McCormick
- The rise and fall of the EU - Jan Zielonka

2. The political efficiency of the EU
- The EU as efficient polity - Desmond Dinan
- The EU: quick to regulate, slow to adapt - Mats Persson

3. More powers for Brussels or renationalization?
- A stronger, more supranational Union - Derek Beach
- The new intergovernmentalism: the next phase in European integration - Uwe Puetter

4. How democratic is the EU?
- The inevitability of a democratic deficit - Richard Bellamy
- A democratic achievement, not just a democratic deficit - Christopher Lord

5. Too much power for the judges?
- Understanding the European Court's political power - Karen Alter and Daniel Kelemen
- A strange institution - Jeremy Rabkin

6. Can there be a common European identity?
- European identity formation in (the) crisis - Ulrike Liebert
- A common European identity is an illusion - Jonathan White

7. Lobbying in the EU: How much power for big business?
- Business as usual: the EU is (still) driven by corporate interests - Laura Horn and Angela Wigger
- The diminishing power of big business - David Marshall

8. The future of the euro: Union or disintegration?
- Why the Euro is a functional necessity in the process of European integration - Henrik Enderlein
- For a plurality of economic and social models! Against a monolithic euro state! - Andreas Nölke

9. The euro: Economic success or disaster?
- Exit or differentiated monetary integration: saving the euro by making it more flexible - Tal Sadeh
- Unity in diversity: the unfulfilled promise of the euro - Waltraud Schelkle

10. Can the EU tame big finance?
- The merits of adaptive governance: the regulation of financial services in the EU - Jörn-Carsten Gottwald
- The pitfalls of EU governance in financial markets - Daniel Mügge

11. The big waste? The common agricultural policy
- Europe's common values and agricultural policy: a defence of the CAP - Ann-Christina Knudsen
- The European agricultural fortress under attack - Eugénia da Conceição-Heldt

12. Does the EU act as a normative power?
- The EU is a normative power in world politics - Daniela Sicurelli
- Living in a material world: a critique of 'normative power Europe' - Mark Pollack

13. Is EU enlargement a success story or has it gone too far?
- The benefits of EU enlargement: defending security, democracy and prosperity - Rachel Epstein
- EU enlargement: a critique - Christopher Bickerton

14. Towards a common European army?
- Still flattering to deceive: the common security and defence policy - Anand Menon
- Defence integration in the EU: from vision to business as usual - Hanna Ojanen

15. A new German hegemony: Does it exist? Would it be dangerous?
- The failure of German leadership - Matthias Matthijs
- A benign hegemon: Germany's European vocation - Miguel Otero-Iglesias and Hubert Zimmermann

16. Should it stay or should it go? Britain, EU membership and the merits of selective integration
- Brexit: a disaster for Britain and for the European Union - Martin Rhodes
- The case for Brexit: why Britain should leave the EU - Alan Sked