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The EU poses quite profound questions for scholars and students of the social and political sciences. Its appeal will reside not only in its comprehensive and authoritative coverage of the field, but also in the quality of its contributors, and the diversity of the theoretical and methodological approach included

Intro -- Preface -- Contents -- Abbreviations -- List of Figures -- List of Graphs -- List of Tables -- List of Appendixes -- Chapter 1 Introducing Discourse Analysis in EU Politics -- What Is Discourse Analysis? -- Discourse Analysis in the Study of the EU -- Scope of Research -- Approaches and Research Themes -- What Can't Discourse Analysis Be Used for? -- The Aim of the Book and Its Approach to Discourse Analysis -- Structure of the Book -- References -- Chapter 2 Discourse Analysis as a Research Strategy -- Agency-Structure as a Continiuum -- Discursive Conflict-Consensus as a Continiuum -- Causality and Types of Explanations -- Discourse Analysis and Time -- Multi-theoretical Analysis and Counterfactual Reasoning -- Ideas, Discourse and Institutions: A General Analytical Framework -- References -- Chapter 3 Discourse Analysis, Data and Research Techniques -- What to Read? -- Documents -- Interviews and 'Naturally Occurring Talk' -- Survey Questionnaires -- Non-linguistic Data -- How to Read? -- Content Analysis and Computer-Assisted Text Analysis -- Problem Perception Analysis -- References -- Chapter 4 Discourse and EU Policy-Making -- Reforms and Actors in the CAP -- A Mechannism of Resistance: Discursive Path-Dependency -- Two Conditions for Transformation: One Necessary and One Conducive -- First Mechanism of Transformation: Discursive Ambiguity -- Second Mechanism of Transformation: Translation -- Third Mechanism of Transformation: Discursive Entrepreneurship -- Fourth Mechannism of Transformation: Expertise -- Expertise in EU Policy-Making -- References -- Chapter 5 Discourse and the Strategic Usage of Europe -- 'Europe' as a Strategic Discursive Resource -- Three Conditions Conducive for the Strategic Usage of Discourse -- How Can It Be Determined Whether Decision-Makers Invoke Discourse Strategically?.

The EU poses quite profound questions for scholars and students of the social and political sciences. Its appeal will reside not only in its comprehensive and authoritative coverage of the field, but also in the quality of its contributors, and the diversity of the theoretical and methodological approach included.

Energy policy has been considered as a "special case of Europeanization," due to its tardy and patchy development as a domain of EU activity as well as its important but highly contested external dimension. Divergent energy pathways across Member States and the sensitivity of this policy domain have militated against a unified European Energy Policy. And yet, since the mid-2000s cooperation in this policy area has picked up speed, leading to the adoption of the Energy Union, presented by the European Commission as the most ambitious energy initiative since the European Coal and Steel Community. This dynamism has attracted growing scholarly attention, seeking to determine whether, why and how European Energy Policy has consolidated against all odds during a particularly critical moment for European integration. The underlying question that emerges in this context is whether the Energy Union represents a step forward towards a more homogenous and joined-up energy policy or, rather a strategy to manage heterogeneity through greater flexibility and differentiated integration. Given the multilevel and multisectoral character­ istics of energy policy, answering these questions requires a three-fold analysis of (1) the degree of centralization of European Energy Policy (vertical integration), (2) the coher­ ence between energy sub-sectors (cross-sectoral integration), and (3) the territorial ex­ tension of the energy acquis beyond the EU Member States (horizontal integration). Tak­ en together, the Energy Union has catalyzed integration on the three dimensions. First, EU institutions are formally involved in almost every aspect of energy policy, including sensitive areas such as ensuring energy supplies. Second, the Energy Union, with its new governance regulation, brings under one policy framework energy sub-sectors that had developed in silos. And finally, energy policy is the only sector that has generated a multi­ lateral process dedicated to the integration of non-members into the EU energy market. However, this ...

Summary presented at the start of the article: " 'Development cooperation' is one of the traditional policy domains of the European Union (EU). Over the years it advanced from an instrument used in colonial times to one of modern partnership, although European self-interest remains a driving force. Jointly, the EU and its member states are the largest development donor in the world and also provide sizable market access and investment to developing countries. Their overall performance record has been assessed fairly positively by internal and external parties, although many possible improvements have been identified. The various enlargements of the EU traceably supported a widening of the geographic and substantive scope of EU development policies and practice. In addition, EU development cooperation was reinforced by the fact that it gradually received a firmer basis in the constituent EU treaties. The 'European Consensus on Development' document, as revised in 2017, laid out the main direction of and emphases in EU development cooperation until the year 2030. The European Consensus prescribed a rights-based approach, and squarely placed the United Nations "Agenda 2030" and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) contained in it, as the main framework and objectives for EU development cooperation. A wide range of actors is involved in EU development cooperation, in part because this is an area of shared competence among the EU member states that pursue their own national policies as well as those specified by the EU. Thus, EU actors such as the European Commission, Council, and Parliament feature in this policy field along with EU member states and individual or collective developing country actors. The most prominent example of this is the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, which consists of 79 countries. Civil society organizations, including non-governmental development organizations, both from the North and the South, also seek to influence or otherwise engage with the policies and ...

Why does European integration proceed? This article tests among three theories of representation. (1) The "permissive consensus" theory argues that political elites have been able to pursue their own policy interests because of public disinterest. (2) Stimson's (1991) "policy mood" theory argues that public disinterest is a sign that political elites are hewing close enough to public preferences. (3) The "cue-taking" theory argues that a disinterested public's preferences will be correlated with political elite policy positions not because elites are responding to public preferences, but because political elites shape weakly held preferences through their policy positions. A two-stage least squares regression model is used to test among the theories. The results provide support for the policy mood theory. 3 Tables, 42 References. Adapted from the source document.