Shaping Eu Policy From Below

This book looks at the way in which the Committee of the Regions (CoR) can influence EU policy making from below, despite its relatively weak position in the decision-making process. Bringing together theoretical arguments about the central role of the formation of judgment in addition to the more conventionally emphasized expression of will, with an up-to-date account of the CoR's institutional development and activities, Simona Piattoni and Justus Schönlau make a strong case not to overlook the significance of the Committee's contribution to EU-level democracy.

For many observers, the European Union is mired in a deep crisis. Between sluggish growth; political turmoil following a decade of austerity politics; Brexit; and the rise of Asian influence, the EU is seen as a declining power on the world stage. Columbia Law professor Anu Bradford argues the opposite in her important new book The Brussels Effect: the EU remains an influential superpower that shapes the world in its image. By promulgating regulations that shape the international business environment, elevating standards worldwide, and leading to a notable Europeanization of many important aspects of global commerce, the EU has managed to shape policy in areas such as data privacy, consumer health and safety, environmental protection, antitrust, and online hate speech. And in contrast to how superpowers wield their global influence, the Brussels Effect - a phrase first coined by Bradford in 2012- absolves the EU from playing a direct role in imposing standards, as market forces alone are often sufficient as multinational companies voluntarily extend the EU rule to govern their global operations. The Brussels Effect shows how the EU has acquired such power, why multinational companies use EU standards as global standards, and why the EU's role as the world's regulator is likely to outlive its gradual economic decline, extending the EU's influence long into the future.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] License. It is free to read, download and share on Elgaronline.com. This cutting-edge book explores the practices and socialization of the everyday foreign policy making in the European Union (EU), focusing on the individuals who shape and implement the Common Foreign and Security Policy despite a growing dissension among member states.

When EU member states signed the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007, they did not anticipate the manifold crises in store for them over the following years. Instead of the intended consolidation of a Union which had just gone through its most profound modernisation and biggest round of enlargements, the EU has since then had to weather a wide range of political, economic, social, legal, health and even military crises with major repercussions within and beyond its own territory. Indeed, this time of polycrisis has induced change on many levels: Across the continent and its many fora of European supra-, trans- and international collaboration, established institutions, rule systems and normative frameworks have been put into question and power balances have been shifting. Against this background, actors from social, political, economic and cultural life have sought new ways to overcome the manifold pressing problems of their time, be it through intensified collaboration or attempts to increasingly resolve issues at the national level. This volume offers a compilation of case studies on EU crisis responses, covering the most impactful of the various crises the EU has had to face in recent years. It provides theoretical and conceptual guidelines for the study of political actors’ responses to crisis at all levels of the EU multilevel governance system and beyond.

The book analyses EU foreign policy with Turkey over the last decade by uncovering how its internal functioning and structural context affect the European Union’s decisions. Acknowledging that EU enlargement policy is part of a broader foreign policy framework, which includes also other domains (energy, migration and CFSP), Elena Baracani adopts a unique approach, combining more actor-oriented factors with structural factors to analyse EU–Turkey Relations at national, multinational and international levels.

This definitive Handbook addresses the current lack of research into European policymaking and development using an interpretive perspective. Questioning areas that mainstream approaches tend to neglect, contributors target the ways in which ideas, arguments and discourses shape policies in the institutional context of the EU.

A ground breaking study of how the interaction between the European Commission and the EU Courts has shaped EU competition law.

"Scott Greer has done a remarkable job in explaining how the Europeanization of health policy takes place, how institutional legacies exert an influence in lobbying, how harmonization exacerbates path-dependent welfare structures that in turn impede a 'race to the bottom', and why the idea of a European social model creates positive external effects, even if it is a only an ad hoc policy construction." Journal of European Social Policy 2010 20 (2) "Provides an original and thought-provoking perspective and approach, combining in-depth theoretical discussions and well-researched case studies over 11 chapters...The book is well written and insightful, and the main argument is that EU law and policy developments - directly and indirectly - have the potential of undermining domestic health systems and the political actors within them."Journal of Common Market Studies, 2010 Volume 48. Number 3 "This book provides a unique insight into what is going on, unnoticed by most, 'below the surface' in EU health policy. It serves as a wake-up call for those who continue to believe that the EU is of marginal interest and relevance in national level debates about the direction of health care. In addition, in an engaging and lively style, it provides essential guidance for students of health policy who seek to understand the labyrinthine processes and the wide ranging unintended consequences - for good and for bad - of EU policy making." Professor Naomi Chambers, Head of Health Policy and Management, Manchester Business School “In this insightful book, Scott Greer describes how European health policy has long been developed in a secret garden, where a small number of people find pragmatic solutions to immediate problems while avoiding the fundamental questions … Yet the logic of European integration is tearing down the garden's walls, creating a public park where pragmatism takes second place to principles. Something must be done, but it is not clear what. Greer's book will be essential reading … for anyone who is responsible for organising how health care is delivered in Europe.” Martin McKee CBE, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK This important new book explains how European Union (EU) developed policies shape and constrain health services. It answers the key questions asked of EU health policy: What is it? Why did it happen? What does it take to influence it and how can it be changed? Using extensive new data, Greer discusses how EU policy is influenced by lobbies in Brussels and by four big member states: France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. Shaping EU health policy takes information, coordination, nimbleness and focus. The book examines the ways that the successful health lobbies and member states work, identifies weaknesses, and emphasizes the challenge to health policymakers: if they do not influence EU health policies, they will lose influence over their own health systems. The Politics of European Union Health Policies will be of great interest to students and academics of EU policy and politics, as well as health policy makers.

The European Union is traditionally seen as a new and partly separate legal order within the global legal system. At the same time, the EU is an important player in the global governance network. The strong and explicit link between the EU and a large number of other international organisations raises questions concerning the impact of decisions taken by those organisations and of international agreements concluded with those organisations (either by the EU itself or by its Member States) on the autonomy of the EU legal order. This book addresses the relationship between the EU and other international organisations by looking at the increasing influence of norms enacted by international organisations on the shaping of EU law.