This is a major new reader that brings together and assesses the most influential scholarly contributions that have fashioned the debate on European integration over the past 50 years. It includes an original contribution reflecting on key issues in integration theory by Ben Rosamond.

The debate over European integration is a central issue in the study of contemporary Europe. This book seeks to guide the student through the most important of the integration theories and academic literature on this vital topic. The reader starts with an expansive and wide ranging introductory essay which offers a clear overview and analysis of the shifting terms of the debate on European integration during the post-war period. Part two provides key extracts from the seminal authors who have contributed to and fashioned this debate throughout its duration. It brings together the most important parts from the most essential and influential literature on this important topic. This reader will be of value to the growing number of students, at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, who are undertaking courses in European studies and European politics. It will be especially useful to those who require some knowledge of the origins and developments of this important issue at the centre of the debate over Europe.

An accessible yet thorough look at how historians and social scientists have thought and written about the history of the present-day European Union, and the main themes of their research and debates. Essential reading for historians of Europe and social scientists of the European Union alike.

How can we conceptualize identity and legitimacy in the context of the European union? What is the role of narratives, political symbols, public debate and institutional practices in the process of identity formation and legitimacy consolidation? Debating Political Identity and Legitimacy in the European Union addresses these questions and brings together high profile scholars from various disciplinary backgrounds to debate the ontological and epistemological aspects of research on identity and legitimacy formation in the EU. Part I investigates key elements such as the relationship between ‘Europeanization’ of the EU member states and its effect on the political identity of their citizens; the relationship between the politicization of the EU and processes of identity and legitimacy formation; and the indispensability of European identity for legitimizing the EU. Part II looks at pathways to identity formation and legitimacy construction in the EU by considering alternative types of constitutional legitimacy; political symbolism; Europeanization and politicization of the debate on EU focusing on the foreign policy domain. Bringing together a wide but coherent range of high profile perspectives, this book will of interest to students and scholars of European studies, Political Science, Philosophy, Sociology and Law.

This book offers a wealth of original empirical data on how online media shape EU contestation. Taking a public sphere perspective, the authors highlight the myths and truths about the nature of audience-driven online media content and show how public demands for legitimacy are at the heart of the much-analyzed politicization of European integration. What EU citizens most intensely debate online are the fundamental questions of what the European institutions stand for and how they can be held accountable. Drawing on innovative and rigorous analysis of online media ownership, journalistic content and online readers’ inputs, the authors piece together the components of the dynamic nature of EU contestation and the degree of convergence towards Euroscepticism across EU member states in the first years of the Eurocrisis. There is no doubt that EU citizens have strong opinions about the EU and interactive online media allow these opinions to come to the fore, to be challenged and amplified both within and beyond national public spheres. Yet, for all its potential to unite European publics, online EU contestation remains firmly anchored in offline news media frames, while citizens and journalists alike struggle to put forward a clear vision of the future EU polity.

In 2005 hopes for closer European integration were dealt a potentially fatal blow when French and Dutch voters rejected the proposed new European Union constitution. Going beyond the instant analysis of journalists, which placed blame for the failed vote on the two nations' internal politics, Democracy Needs Dispute examines a collection of media accounts of European policy debates to argue that the problem with the EU is its relative lack of vibrant political conflict. Democracy Needs Dispute offers both up-to-date analysis and a rich theoretical understanding of the problems facing further efforts at European integration.

Is the EU a success or a failure? Should It Stay or Should It Go? Britain and the EU The Big Waste or Essential to Feed Europe? The Common Agricultural Policy Observers of the European Union could be forgiven in thinking that since its inception the EU project has been under threat from near constant crises. In recent years, controversial issues such as EU enlargement, the fallout from the Eurozone crisis, migration policies, Brexit and the Corona pandemic have tested the EU to its limits and divided public opinion in the process. The major third edition of this comprehensive textbook on the EU seeks to introduce the integration project by looking at the thorny debates politicians, European citizens and the media contend with on a daily basis. Well known for its unique and pedagogically-innovative key debates format, the editors have invited top names in the field to contribute a stirring contribution either 'for' or 'against' each of the toughest political questions the EU faces. In doing so, not only does it offer a broad introduction to all the key concerns of the Union, but it does so in a way that is contemporary, engaging and designed to spark controversy. New to this Edition: - All chapters fully revised and updatedNew chapter on the transatlantic partnership - All chapters now with key takeaway points - Across all controversies, more inclusion of mainstream gender and feminist approaches