Thanks to new transparency rules and increased efforts by scholars, researchers are better equipped than ever before to analyze the decision-making processes of the Council of the European Union and to test old wisdoms. This book covers the most contentious areas and important debates in current research.

Autorentext
DANIEL NAURIN is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Gothenburg University, Sweden. He is the author or Deliberation behind Closed Doors: Transparency and Lobbying in the European Union.

HELEN WALLACE is Centennial Professor in the European Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. She is the author of numerous books and articles on European Union politics, including The Council of Ministers (with Fiona Hayes-Renshaw).

Inhalt
Introduction: From Rags to Riches; D.Naurin & H.Wallace PART I: COALITION-BUILDING Voting and Coalitions in the Council after the Enlargement; M.Mattila Voting, Statements and Coalition-Building in the Council from 1999 to 2006; S.Hagemann East-North-South: Coalition-Building in the Council Before and After Enlargement; D.Naurin & R.Lindahl PART II: CONSENSUS Veto Players Theory and Consensus Behaviour; T.König & D.Junge The Mechanisms of Consensus: Coming to Agreement on Community Asylum Policy; J.P.Aus PART III: DELIBERATION Deliberation and Bargaining in the Article 113 Committee and the 1996/97 IGC Representatives Group; A.Niemann Risk Regulation, GMOs, and the Limits of Deliberation; M.A.Pollack & G.C.Shaffer Strategic Bargaining, Norms, and Deliberation; J.Lewis PART IV: LEADERSHIP The Power of the Chair: Formal Leadership by the Council Presidency; J.Tallberg Steering, but not Dominating: The Impact of the Council Presidency on EU Legislation; A.Warntjen The Facilitator of Efficient Negotiations in the Council: The Impact of the Council Secretariat; D.Beach The Relative Power of Member States in the Council: Large and Small, Old and New; R.Thomson PART V: METHODOLOGICAL DEBATE How Should we Best Study the Council of Ministers?; D.Heisenberg Neither Goethe nor Bismarck: On the Link between Theory and Empirics in Council Decision-Making Studies; G.Schneider