The European Republic. Reflections on the political economy of a future constitution

Book abstract:

The title is provocatively styled but the narrative sustains the provocation in this work that expresses more vision than seen at the recent IGC. The author's proposals for a European Government challenge the current mood of subsidiarity, intergovernmental co-operation and the clamour for national identities.

The book is organised over seven chapters. The first chapter examines the motivation for European integration and some basic concepts about policy making and social consensus. The challenging language continues in chapter two - take the next step in integration 'Federalism' - or perish. Chapter three lays out the parameters for discussion of a European Constitution and chapters four and five go on to discuss various forms of federalism. The focus of chapter six is the macro-economic policy mix and again the author concludes that only a full, democratic constitutional consensus would be able to give European stabilisation policies the coherence they need. The final chapter wraps up all the main arguments developed in earlier chapters and plants some signposts to the way forward.

The work will interest scholars, students, policy researchers engaged in European politics.

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