This book presents the first comprehensive analysis of the major treaty reforms over the past two decades, to consider whether the path from the Single European Act in 1985 to the present Constitutional Treaty has been pushed by the Franco-German tandem, or has been the result of leadership provided the Commission or smaller member states.

'Derek Beach and Colette Mazzucelli's book clarifies one of the least understood phenomena in European policymaking: leadership. Intellectual laziness has allowed us to believe that leadership in European policymaking is derived from the charisma of statesmen like de Gaulle, Adenauer, Kohl, Mitterrand and Delors. This book demonstrates that leadership has structural causes and must be seen in context. In fact, leadership is all about creating consensus under conditions of bounded rationality. Leadership in the Big Bangs of European Integration is an important step forward in our understanding of the European Union.' - Stefan Collignon, Political Economist, London School of Economics and Harvard University

Autorentext
ALASDAIR BLAIR Jean Monnet Reader in International Relations, Coventry University, UK KRZYSZTOF BOBINSKI Director of the Unia & Polska, a pro-European think tank in Warsaw, Poland SIMONE BUNSE DPhil Candidate in Politics, Nuffield College, University of Oxford, UK BEN CRUM Lecturer in Political Theory, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands RENAUD DEHOUSSE Jean Monnet Professor of European Law and Politics, Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po), Paris, France FLORENCE DELOCHE-GAUDEZ Secretary-General of the Centre for European Studies, Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) Paris, France DIONYSSIS G. DIMITRAKOPOULOS Lecturer in Politics, School of Politics and Sociology, Birkbeck, University of London, UK ULRIKE GUÉROT Senior Transatlantic Fellow - Europe in the Berlin Office, German Marshall Fund (GMF) of the United States HUSSEIN KASSIM Senior Lecturer, School of Politics and Sociology, Birkbeck, University of London, UK PAUL MAGNETTE Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute for European Studies, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium ANDREAS MAURER Project Manager, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Berlin, Germany ALMUT METZ Political Scientist and Researcher, Centre for Applied Policy Research (CoAoP), Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany KALYPSO NICOLAIDIS University Lecturer in International Relations, Oxford University, UK EZRA SULEIMAN IBM Professor ofInternational Studies, Professor of Politics, and Director of the Programme in European Politics and Society, Princeton University, USA JONAS TALLBERG Associate Professor, Stockholm University, Sweden CARLOS WESTENDORP Ambassador of Spain to the United States

Inhalt
Foreword; C.Westendorp Preface; E.Suleiman Introduction; D. Beach & C. Mazzucelli The EU Presidency: France in the 2000 IGC; J.Tallberg Drawing Lessons in the Chair: Assessing the Dutch Presidency's Impact during the Maastricht and Amsterdam Conferences; C.Mazzucelli The EU Presidency: Comparing the Italian and Irish Presidencies of the 2003-04 Intergovernmental Conference; B.Crum Oiling the Wheels of Compromise: The Council Secretariat in the 1996-97 and the 2003-04 IGCs; D.Beach Leader or Bystander?: The European Commission and EU Treaty Reform; H.Kassim & D.G.Dimitrakopoulos A Formal Outsider Becomes an Effective Player: The European Parliament in the Negotiation of the Treaty of Amsterdam and the Constitutional Treaty; A.Maurer Big versus Small: Shared Leadership in the EU and Power Politics in the Convention; S.Bunse , P.Magnette & K.NicolaIdis Cooperative Hegemon, Missing Engine or Improbable Core? Explaining French-German Influence in European Treaty Reform; C.Mazzucelli , U.Guérot & A.Metz Britain and the European Union: A Laggard Leader?; A.Blair The Constitutional Treaty and Poland: A New Laggard in the EU?; K.Bobinski Is There Anyone in Charge? Leadership in EU Constitutional Negotiations; R.Dehousse & F.Deloche-Gaudez Conclusions; D. Beach & C. Mazzucelli