The second of two volumes to examine how European Union member states coordinate their European policies, this book investigates the structures, institutions, and processes implemented by national governments in Brussels. It offers a detailed examination of the organization, operation, and performance of permanent representations, and their role in national systems of EU policy making, and looks at the extent to which interaction within a common institutional environment has brought about convergence between national arrangements.

Air Transport and the European Union investigates the emergence of the EU as a major policy actor in aviation and examines how Europeanization has transformed the governance, organization and structure of the sector since the mid-1980s. It addresses the question of how, when a detailed regulatory system already existed, the EU was able to establish its own policy-making competence and to override the wishes of the majority or member states opposed to EU involvement.

This study investigates the extent to which action at EU level in a range of industrial, financial and service sectors has affected the substance of national policy, and the behaviour of - and relationships between - member nations. It looks at the policies pursued by the four largest member states in these areas, discussing the initiatives launched by the EU and assessing the Union's impact on national policy, compared with other internal and external factors. Cutting accross the boundaries that have traditionally separated international relations, political science, public policy and other...

Beyond the Market: The European Union and National Social Policy considers the extent to which the European Union has impacted on the formation and content of social and environmental policy in the member states, focusing on the four larger members: Germany, France, the UK and Italy. The contributors use theory and empirical evidence to highlight the factors that influence the formation and content of social policy and why some states have been able to resist EU social policy initiatives successfully and maintain their autonomy.

Beyond the Market: The European Union and National Social Policy considers the extent to which the European Union has impacted on the formation and content of social and environmental policy in the member states, focusing on the four larger members: Germany, France, the UK and Italy. The contributors use theory and empirical evidence to highlight the factors that influence the formation and content of social policy and why some states have been able to resist EU social policy initiatives successfully and maintain their autonomy.

The European Commission is arguably the world's most powerful international administration. It plays a central role in the political system of the European Union. The Commission is a permanent presence in the life of the member states, but its influence is felt far beyond their borders. Viewed historically as the motor of European integration, the Commission is the subject of intense controversy. It is portrayed frequently as technocratic, monolithic, and unaccountable, but also as fragmented and weakly led. According to accepted wisdom, it is populated by career bureaucrats, who want only to...