The Euro crisis catapulted the EU into its most serious political crisis since its inception, leaving it torn between opposing demands for more sovereignty and solidarity. This volume focuses on the key themes of disunion, sovereignty and solidarity. It assesses the main EU institutions: member states, civil society actors and policy areas.

'The book could not have been published at a more timely moment, with the members of the eurozone seeking further and deeper integration to overcome the crisis of the common currency, while the United Kingdom contemplates whether it wishes to remain a member at all [It] provides both an excellent introduction for new students of the EU, as well as an informative and highly topical overview for scholars interested in the various sub-fields of the discipline.' - Common Market Studies

"The European Union is undergoing a profound crisis. This book provides unrivalled insight into the nature of this crisis and a powerful, sustained analysis of the growing tensions between the demands of national sovereignty and the imperatives of solidarity in many different arenas and institutions, which together are threatening the Union with fragmentation and decline." - Andrew Gamble, Prof of Politics, Department of Politics and Internationa Studies, University of Cambridge

"European Disunion: Between Sovereignty and Solidarity identifies and dissects the weaknesses and contradictions in European integration. Editors Jack Hayward and Rüdiger Wurzel bring together leading specialists to assess how the European Union has fared in balancing sovereignty and solidarity. The verdict is nuanced, but the weight of the evidence that the authors uncover suggests a future of disunion rather than union. The book provides an indispensable guide as the Eurozone endgame unfolds." -Liesbet Hooghe, W.R. Kenan Professor, UNC- Chapel Hill and Chair in Multilevel Governance, VU University Amsterdam

"Jack Hayward, Rudi Wurzel and their collaborators have produced a fine, timely and accessible study of the recent history, current state and future prospects of the European project. No one who wants to understand the deeper forces behind the upheavals that have plagued the European Union in the last few years can afford not to read it." - Professor David Marquand, University of Oxford.

Autorentext
PATRICK BIRKINSHAW Professor of Public Law and Director of the Institute of European Public Law at Hull University, UK MICHAEL BRUTER Reader in Political Science, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK MARTIN BULL Professor of Politics, University of Salford, UK and Academic Director of the European Consortium of Political Research. VESSELIN DIMITROV Reader in the Department of Government, the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK KENNETH DYSON Research Professor in European Political Studies at Cardiff University, UK, Fellow of the British Academy and Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales JACK HAYWARD Research Professor of Politics, Hull University, UK, Emeritus Professor of Politics, Oxford University, UK and Fellow of the British Academy DAVID HOWARTH Senior Lecturer and Jean Monnet Chair in European Political Economy, University of Edinburgh, UK MICHAEL KEATING Professor of Politics, University of Aberdeen, UK ROBERT LADRECH Professor of European Politics, Keele University, UK PHILIP NORTON (Lord Norton of Louth) Professor of Government and Director of the Centre for Legislative Studies, University of Hull, UK ANAND MENON Professor of West European Politics, University of Birmingham, UK ELIZABETH MONAGHAN Lecturer in Politics, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Hull, UK EDWARD C PAGE Sidney and Beatrice Webb Professor of Public Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK NICKPARSONS Reader in French, School of European Studies, Cardiff University, UK WILLIAM PATERSON Honorary Professor for German and European Politics, Aston Centre for Europe, Aston University, UK MAJA KLUGER RASMUSSEN Doctoral candidate in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK RÜDIGER WURZEL Reader and Jean Monnet Chair in European Union Studies at the University of Hull, UK

Inhalt
Introduction;Jack Hayward and Rüdiger K.W. Wurzel 1. Union without Concensus; J.Hayward Part I Enfeebled Democratic Legitimacy 2. The Difficult Emergence of a European People; Michael Bruter 3. A Nascent Transnational Civili Society; Elizabeth Monaghan 4. An Obdurately National Party Politics; Robert Ladrech Part II Institutional Deadlock: A Surfeit of Would-be Leaders 5. National Governments, the European Council and Councils of Ministers: A Plurality of Sovereignties. Member State Soverreigns without an EU Sovereign; Jack Hayward 6. The European Commission Bureaucracy: Handling Sovereingty throught the Back and Front Doors; Edward C. Page 7. The Empowerment of Parliaments in EU Interrogations: Victims or Victors?; Maja Kluger Rasmussen 8. National Courts and European Union Courts; Patrick Birkinshaw 9. Defending the Euro: Unity and Disunity among Europe's Central Bankers; David Howarth 10. Territorial Flexibility; Michael Keating Part III Policy Divergences and Convergences 11. Foreign and Defence Policy: The Sovereignty Obsession and the Quest for Elusive Solidarity; Anand Menon 12. Economics and Monetary Disunion?; Kenneth Dyson 13. Social and Labour Market Policy: The (Re-)Emergence of Competitive Tension; Nick Parsons 14. From Environmental Disunion towards Envirnomental Union?: Rüdiger K.W. Wurzel Part IV Adjusting to the REceding Sovereignty of Member States 15. A Contested Franco-German Duumvirate; William Paterson 16. Opt-out: Britain's Unsplendid Isolation; Philip Norton 17. The Nordic Countries: The Causes and Consequences of Variable Geometry; Nick Sitter 18. Southern European and the 'Trade-off': Architects of European Disunion?; Martin J. Bull 19. The Central and East European Countries: From Weak Latecomers to Good Citizens of the Union; Vesselin Dimitrov Conclusion: European Disunion: Between Solidarity and Sovereignty; RüdigerK.W. Wurzel and Jack Hayward