Design for a New Europe

Description

How did the process of European integration break down; how can it be repaired? In European Integration, 1950-2003, John Gillingham reviewed the history of the European project and predicted the rejection of the European constitution. Now the world's leading expert on the EU maps out a route to save the Union. The four chapters of this penetrating, fiercely-argued and often witty book subject today's dysfunctional European Union to critical scrutiny in an attempt to show how it is stunting economic growth, sapping the vitality of national governments, and undermining competitiveness. It explains how the attempt to revive the EU by turning it into a champion of research and development will backfire and demonstrates how Europe's great experiment in political and economic union can succeed only if the wave of liberal reform now under way in the historically downtrodden east is allowed to sweep away the prosperous and complacent west.

John Gillingham is Professor of History at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. His previous books include European Integration, 1950-2002 (Cambridge, 2003) and Coal, Steel, and the Rebirth of Europe, 1945-1955 (Cambridge 1991), which was awarded the John Beer Prize of the American Historical Association for the best book on the history of foreign relations published that year.

'This book is a remarkable account of the most recent developments in the European Union. Professor Gillingham rethinks the process of European integration and offers an original prescription on how to reconfigure it. His Design for a New Europe calls for a mandate from the citizens, the return of power to the states, further enlargement, substantial reform of the EU's institutions and policies, and abandonment of the EU's attempt to harmonize laws. This work should be considered in any serious debate about the further course of European integration.' Vaclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic 'At a time when clear thinking about Europe's political and economic future is urgently needed, John Gillingham has provided a convincing diagnosis of the EU's present malaise and a challenging set of prescriptions which deserve to be taken seriously by Euro-philes as much as by Euro-sceptics.' Sir Geoffrey Owen, Senior Fellow, Institute of Management, London School of Economics 'By combining the objectivity of the outsider with his insider's knowledge, Gillingham succeeds in painting a persuasive and compelling portrait of the European Union after the rejection of the Constitutional Treaty. This insightful study brings the major developments in Europe to life and puts them into a global perspective. Design for a New Europe is a lucid, well-written account of what is wrong with the EU and how it can be fixed. It is a must-read for Europhiles and Eurosceptics alike.' Tom Zwart, University of Utrecht School of Law