Understanding E.U. Policy Making

by Chari, Raj S.; Kritzinger, Sylvia

• ISBN13: 9780745319711
• ISBN10: 0745319718
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-08-20
• Publisher: Pluto Press

Summary

EU policy shapes all areas of our lives -- from our money, to our food, to our welfare. Yet we know little about how EU decisions are made, and who benefits from them. This book is a critical guide to the policies of the EU.Raj Chari and Sylvia Kritzinger argue that there is an agenda that underlies EU policy making. Some policies -- those that aim to create a competitive economy -- are prioritized, while others are effectively ignored.Setting the EU in a proper economic and theoretical context, the authors provide a chapter-by-chapter analysis of each of the EU's major policy areas. Arguing that traditional accounts of EU integration are inadequate, the authors develop an innovative new perspective. Written with clarity and precision, this book is ideal for students of the EU and anyone looking for an incisive critique of the role of corporate capital in the development of EU policy.

Author Biography

Raj Chari (www.rajchari.com) is Director of Centre for European Studies in Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and Lectures in Political Science.

Sylvia Kritzinger (www.ihs.ac.at/index.php3?id=440&hr=308) is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna.

Table of Contents

List of figures	vi
List of tables	vii
Acknowledgements	viii
List of acronyms	x
A supranational or a decentralized EU?	1	(18)
Who's coming to play? Policy-making actors in the EU	19	(18)
Understanding EU policy making: major theories and new insights	37	(23)
Single market policy: creating a strong neo-liberal market in the global economy	60	(23)
Competition policy: ensuring a competitive European market	83	(22)
Economic and Monetary Union: the making of the money tree	105	(24)
The Common Agricultural Policy: redistributive policy in favour of whom?	129	(23)
Social policy: demonstrating European incapability and differences	152	(19)
Policies of freedom, security and justice: a limited role for the EU	171	(20)
External policies: divided we stand, united we fall	191	(20)
Conclusions: understanding the present, changing the future	211	(13)
Notes	224	(23)
Bibliography	247	(9)
Index	256