Establishing the Supremacy of European Law The Making of an International Rule of Law in Europe

by Alter, Karen J.

• ISBN13: 9780199260997
• ISBN10: 0199260990
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-03-27
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The most effective international legal system in the world exists in Europe. It works much like a domestic system, where violations of the law are brought to court, legal decisions are respected, and the autonomous influence of law and legal rulings extends into the political process itself.The European legal system was not always so effective at influencing state behaviour and compelling compliance. Indeed the European Community's original legal system was intentionally designed to have very limited monitoring and enforcement capabilities. The European Court of Justice transformed theoriginal system through bold and controversial legal decisions declaring the direct effect and supremacy of European law over national law. This book starts where traditional legal accounts leave off. Karen Alter explains why national courts took on a role enforcing European law against theirgovernments, and why national governments accepted an institutional change that greatly compromised national sovereignty. She then shows how harnessing national courts to funnel private litigant challenges through to the ECJ and enforce European law supremacy contributed fundamentally to theemergence of an international rule of law in Europe, where national governments are held accountable to their European legal obligations, and where states actually avoid policies that might conflict with European law.

Author Biography

Karen J. Alter is Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University, where she specializes in the international politics of international organizations and international law. Alter is author of Establishing the Supremacy of European Law: The Making of an International Rule of Law in Europe (Oxford University Press, 2001), and numerous articles and book chapters on the European Union's legal system. Alter's current research investigates how international politics is changed when international courts are created. Her most recent publications include "Resolving or Exacerbating Disputes? The WTO's New Dispute Resolution System." (International Affairs , 2003) and "Do International Courts Enhance Compliance with International Law? ( Review of Asian and Pacific Studies, 2003). Alter was a German Marshall Fund research fellow, and a visiting scholar at the European Union Center, Harvard University, and a Emile Noel Fellow at Harvard Law School in 2000-2001. She will be a Howard Foundation Fellow and a visiting scholar at the American Bar Foundation in 2004. Alter is on the editorial board of European Union Politics, and the executive committee of the European Union Studies Association (EUSA).

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	xvii
Tables and Figures	xviii
Legal Decisions Cited	xix
The Making of an International Rule of Law in Europe	1	(32)
The establishment of a limited European legal system, 1950--1964	5	(11)
The transformation of the European legal system	16	(11)
Explaining the making of an international rule of law in Europe: the plan of the book	27	(6)
National Judicial Interests and the Process of Legal Integration in Europe	33	(31)
Explaining change in national legal doctrines: the dependent variable	34	(5)
Legalism, neo-realism and neo-functionalism: where are the politics?	39	(6)
A general theory of judicial interests	45	(7)
Integrating EC law supremacy into national legal systems: an (historical) institutionalist account	52	(8)
National judicial constraints on European legal integration	60	(4)
German Judicial Acceptance of European Law Supremacy	64	(60)
The main judicial actors in the legal debate	66	(5)
Negotiating doctrinal change regarding European law supremacy	71	(47)
Conclusion	118	(6)
French Judicial Acceptance of European Law Supremacy	124	(58)
The main judicial actors in the legal debate	127	(8)
The process of doctrinal change regarding European law supremacy	135	(43)
Conclusion	178	(4)
Winning Political Support: Why Did National Governments Accept a Judicial Revolution That Transferred Away National Sovereignty?	182	(27)
How did the ECJ escape member state control?	183	(9)
Why did national governments not reassert control?	192	(10)
What powers do national governments have over the process of legal integration?	202	(5)
National governments and the European rule of law	207	(2)
The Transformation of the European Legal System and the Rule of Law in Europe	209	(24)
The vicious circle of international law: weak legal mechanisms combined with poor compliance	211	(6)
The virtuous circle: how effective legal systems enhance the rule of law	217	(4)
Extending the influence of law and courts into the political process	221	(8)
Conclusion	229	(4)
References	233	(18)
Index	251