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Abstract
The two decades since the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 have been marked by an integration paradox: although the scope of European Union (EU) activity has increased at an unprecedented pace, affecting areas such as fiscal policy, foreign affairs, and financial supervision, this increase has taken place in the absence of lasting transfers of power to supranational institutions. Challenging conventional assumptions about how member states behave and about what supranational institutions want, this book develops a new theoretical framework known as the new intergovernmentalism. This approach views member state governments as more open than ever to cooperative solutions. However, faced with increasingly hostile publics, they prefer the creation of de novo bodies to the empowerment of traditional supranational institutions.
Intergovernmental policy coordination has become the dominant mode of governance in the new areas of EU activity, and yet deliberation and consensus-seeking remain the core norms regulating behaviour between national officials and representatives. Far from resisting these developments, supranational institutions have been complicit in them. Though this new intergovernmentalist mode of integration has proven itself to be relatively robust, it introduces disequilibrium into the heart of the EU. The fifteen chapters in this volume develop, apply and critically review the new intergovernmentalism as a theoretical framework for the study of post-Maastricht integration. Leading EU scholars discuss the role of supranational institutions, law, member states, and the evolution of new policy domains.
Table of Contents
1 The New Intergovernmentalism and the Study of European Integration (Christopher J. Bickerton, Dermot Hodson, and Uwe Puetter)
Part I Changing Conceptions of Law and Politics Post-Maastricht
2 A Union of Member States (Christopher J. Bickerton)
3 The Roles of Law in a New Intergovernmentalist European Union (Paul James Cardwell and Tamara Hervey)
4 Institutionalist Dynamics behind the New Intergovernmentalism (Thomas Christiansen)
Part II Selected EU Policy Domains Since 1992
5 The New Intergovernmentalism and Experiential Learning in the Common Security and Defence Policy (Michael E. Smith)
6 Integrating in Justice and Home Affairs (Sarah Wolff)
7 The New Intergovernmentalism in Financial Regulation and European Banking Union (David Howarth and Lucia Quaglia)
Part III EU Institutions in the Post-Maastricht Period
8 The European Council (Uwe Puetter)
9 The Commission and the New Intergovernmentalism (John Peterson)
10 The Court of Justice’s Dilemma—Between ‘More Europe’ and ‘Constitutional Mediation’ (Marie-Pierre Granger)
11 Legislative and Judicial Politics in the Post-Maastricht Era (Marzena Kloka and Susanne K. Schmidt)
12 The European Parliament (Johannes Pollak and Peter Slominski)
13 De Novo Bodies and the New Intergovernmentalism (Dermot Hodson)
Part IV Critique and Conclusions
14 Understanding the New Intergovernmentalism (Simon Bulmer)
15 Conclusions (Christopher J. Bickerton, Dermot Hodson, and Uwe Puetter)
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