1st Edition

Transnational European Union Towards a Common Political Space

Edited By Wolfram Kaiser, Peter Starie Copyright 2005
    256 Pages
    by Routledge

    260 Pages
    by Routledge

    At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the European Union is an increasingly dense transnational social and political space. More and more non-governmental organisations develop transnational links, which are usually more intensive within the EU, even if they often extend beyond its borders to the wider world.

    This multi-disciplinary volume explores the importance of these structures, actors and relations for EU and European governance in the context of the theoretical debate about European integration in the social sciences. This book delivers:

    • theoretical chapters examining and discussing the main conceptual perspectives to studying the transnational EU to provide a current overview
    • empirical case studies of transnationalism in practice on transnational party, trade union and police cooperation to transnational education policy-making and transnational consensus-building in EMU governance.

    This volume will be of great interest to students in social sciences, contemporary history and law.

    Contents

    Notes on Contributors

    Acknowledgements

    List of abbreviations

    The European Union as a transnational political space: Introduction

    Wolfram Kaiser and Peter Starie

    I. Conceptual Perspectives

    1. Transnational Western Europe since 1945: Integration as political society formation

    Wolfram Kaiser

    2. Transnational networks: Informal governance in the European political space

    Karen Heard-Lauréote

    3. Transnational socialization: Community-building in an integrated Europe

    Frank Schimmelfennig

    4. Transnational business: Power structures in Europe’s political economy

    Bastiaan van Apeldoorn

    II. Transnationalism in Practice

    5. Trade unions as a transnational movement in the European space 1955-1965: Falling short of ambitions?

    Patrick Pasture

    6. The alliance of European Christian democracy and conservatism: Convergence through networking

    Karl Magnus Johansson

    7. German political foundations: Transnational party go-betweens in the EU enlargement process

    Dorota Dakowska

    8. Transnational actors in the European Higher Education Area: European opportunities and institutional embeddedness

    Erik Beerkens

    9. Copweb Europe: Venues, virtues and vexations of transnational policing

    Monica Den Boer

    10. Transnational consensus building in EMU economic governance: Elite interaction and national preference formation

    Daniela Schwarzer

    Index

    Biography

    Wolfram Kaiser is Professor of European Studies at the University of Portsmouth and Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges. His most recent books include (ed. with J. Elvert) European Union Enlargement. A Comparative History (2004); Christian Democracy in Europe since 1945 (2004); Using Europe, Abusing the Europeans. Britain and European Integration 1945-1963 (1999). He is currently writing a book on transnational Christian democracy in 20th century Europe.
    Peter Starie is Principal Lecturer in Politics at the University of Portsmouth. He has mainly published on policy networks and European integration.