The End of the Eurocrats' Dream: Adjusting to European Diversity

Description

This volume argues that the crisis of the European Union is not merely a fiscal crisis but reveals and amplifies deeper flaws in the structure of the EU itself. It is a multidimensional crisis of the economic, legal and political cornerstones of European integration and marks the end of the technocratic mode of integration which has been dominant since the 1950s. The EU has a weak political and administrative centre, relies excessively on governance by law, is challenged by increasing heterogeneity and displays increasingly interlocked levels of government. During the crisis, it has become more and more asymmetrical and has intervened massively in domestic economic and legal systems. A team of economists, lawyers, philosophers and political scientists analyse these deeper dimensions of the European crisis from a broader theoretical perspective with a view towards contributing to a better understanding and shaping the trajectory of the EU.

Damian Chalmers is Professor of European Union Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Markus Jachtenfuchs is Professor of European and Global Governance at the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin. Christian Joerges is Senior Professor of Law and Society at the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, and Co-Director of the Centre of European Law and Politics at Universitat Bremen.

'The volume is certainly meant as a wake up call - most contributors agree that at present the EU risks sleep walking to disaster ... Cue for a follow-up volume I think, a process to which the commentaries, expertly edited by Julia Slupska, Research Assistant at the LSE, mark a welcome first step.' Richard Bellamy, Verfassungsblog (www.verfassungsblog.de) 'As stated in its preface, this impressive collection of essays has the ambitious aim of launching a 'fundamental debate' about European integration in the wake of the crisis and, in particular, the institutional reforms and policy choices made since 2008.' Maurizio Ferrera, Verfassungsblog (www.verfassungsblog.de) 'One of the most remarkable insights of this book is to put the debate about the future of Europe in a frame of historical contingence. The Europe that could be different is, for the same reasons, the one that is not condemned to success, as the crisis has revealed to us, after decades of calm necessity.' Daniel Innerarity, Verfassungsblog (www.verfassungsblog.de) 'The End of the Eurocrats' Dream provides a very persuasive diagnosis of the structural problems the EU encounters and provides pragmatic proposals for countering them ...' Poul Fritz Kjaer, Verfassungsblog (www.verfassungsblog.de) 'The subtitle of this book, Adjusting to European Diversity, could be the slogan of a new endeavour, not to destroy the EU, but to revitalise is. Christian Joerges (Eurocrats ... 299 et seq.) has given a very convincing overview of different paradigms of government and governance in the EU ... We have to think 'outside of the box!' And this is what the authors of the The End of the Eurocrat's Dream have done well.' Karl-Heinz Ladeur, Verfassungsblog (www.verfassungsblog.de) 'The End of the Eurocrats' Dream is ... a wake-up call warning fellow academics, European politicians and the general public that what used to be presented by many advocates and agents of European integration as a wonderful dream is now often experienced as a nightmare with potentially disastrous effects for European and national politics in all countries of the EU.' Jioi Poibao, Verfassungsblog (www.verfassungsblog.de) 'This edited volume is a powerful attempt at addressing the challenges (of European integration). It brings together contributions from a wide range of renown academics from across Europe (if not beyond) and various disciplines from law to philosophy, with a stopover in political science. The authors examine several dimensions of European integration placed under strain in recent years, ranging from the monetary union, fiscal policy to concerns for citizenship.' Elise Muir, Verfassungsblog (www.verfassungsblog.de) 'While EU scholarship still tends to narrate the Union's history as one of successful adaptation, and the 'euro crisis' as something like a rite of passage, here is a book in a different mould ... The volume makes for powerful critical reading. While studies of the failings of Eurozone design and their institutional consequences are now abundant, the editors have a larger ambition: to show the effects of crisis on the ideas and ideals commonly vested in the EU.' Jonathan White, Verfassungsblog (www.verfassungsblog.de)