National statecraft and European integration: the Conservative government and the European Union, 1979-1997

Book abstract:

This book is concerned with the policy of successive Conservative governments towards the European Union in the 1980s and the 1990s. Despite the perception of British 'awkwardness' and the obstructive nature of the government's negotiating style, the government signed two major amendments to the Treaty of Rome and were negotiating a third before they left office and the vast majority of EU legislation resulting from these agreements was implemented. Although there were the exceptions, most notably the opt-outs on the Single Currency and the Social Chapter, these years of Conservative rule saw the gradual 'Europeanization' of British policy, particularly with regard to economic management. The main concern of this book is to explain this process and to assess the contribution made by the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major in encouraging or hindering it.

The author poses various empirical questions concerning the policy of successive Conservative governments towards the EU. These include the question of why the Conservatives were content to give away partial control over many aspects of supply-side policy by agreeing to the inclusion of qualified majority voting on issues pertaining to the completion of the Single Market and why, after the disaster of 'Black Wednesday' highlighted the problem of joining the Exchange Rate Mechanism, was John Major nevertheless prepared to ratify the Treaty on European Union which committed Britain to completing Stages One and Two of the Single Currency. In explaining apparent contradictions such as these, the author takes the theoretical approach of Statecraft, which is most explicitly associated with the work of Jim Bulpitt.

The chapters are: The Europeanization of British policy: a statecraft approach; Domestic economic problems and external market solutions: Britain's relations with the European Union in historical perspective; Resurrecting the old autonomy code: 'monetarism in one country' and the challenge of international economic forces; The Europeanization of Conservative statecraft; The negotiation of the Single European Act: institutional legacies and the problem of foreign policy implementation; European integration and the challenge to Conservative statecraft; Falling apart over the 'Heart of Europe': Euro-scepticism and the electoral decline of the Conservative Party.

Jim Buller is Lecturer in European Politics at the University of York.