Politics in the European Union

Politics in the European Union is an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the EU. Unique in its in-depth coverage of the history of the EU, the book explores a wide range of topics including institutions and policies, making it a complete guide to understanding the complex nature of the EU. Now in its fifth edition, the text has been fully updated to include coverage of Brexit, the refugee crisis, and political developments within member states. The text is enriched with a wide range of learning features, including end of chapter questions, which are designed to stimulate critical thinking, suggested further reading, EU timelines, and illustrative figures to help students take their learning further.

1 - Theories of European Integration
2 - Theories of EU Governance
3 - Theorizing Consequences
4 - Critical Perspectives
5 - From the End of the War to the Schuman Plan (the Late 1940s to the Early 1950s)
6 - The 'Other' European Communities and the Origins of the European Economic Community (the Early 1950s to the 1960s)
7 - The First Years of the European Economics Community (the 1960s and into the 1970s)
8 - The Revival of European Integration (the Mid-1970s to the Late 1980s)
9 - Maastricht and Amsterdam (the Late 1980s to the Late 1990s)
10 - From Amsterdam to Lisbon (2000-09)
11 - The EU in Crisis (2009-19)
12 - The Institutional Architecture
13 - The European Commission
14 - The European Council and the Council of the European Union (EU)
15 - The European Parliament
16 - The Court of Justice of the European Union
17 - Organized Interests
18 - Policy Making and Policies in the European Union
19 - The Single Market
20 - Economic and Monetary Union
21 - Agriculture
22 - Environment and Climate
23 - Freedom, Security, and Justice
24 - Trade and Development Aid
25 - Common Foreign and Security Policy
26 - Enlargement

Simon Bulmer is Professor of European Politics at the University of Sheffield. He has published numerous books, articles and book chapters on the EU. The most recent books are Germany and the European Union: Europe's Reluctant Hegemon? (with William Paterson, Macmillan 2019), and The Member States of the European Union (with Christian Lequesne, OUP 2020). He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. Owen Parker is Senior Lecturer in European Politics at the University of Sheffield. He is the author of Cosmopolitan Government in Europe: Citizens and Entrepreneurs in Postnational Politics (Routledge, 2013), and co-editor of Crisis in the Eurozone Periperhy: The Political Economies of Greece, Spain, Ireland and Portugal (with Dimitris Tsarouhas, Palgrave, 2018) as well as numerous articles on the EU, European politics, and political economy. He previously worked for the European Commission on enlargement policy. Ian Bache is Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield. His EU-related books include: Multi-level Governance (with Matthew Flinders, 2004); The Europeanization of British Politics (with Andrew Jordan, 2006); and Europeanization and Multi-level Governance (2008). His more recent research focuses on the politics of wellbeing. He was awarded Fellowship of the Academy of Social Science in 2014. Stephan George is Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield. He has authored, co-authored, and edited many books on the politics of policy-making in the European Union, and on British policy towards the EU, as well as numerous articles in journals and chapters in edited books. He is a former Chair of UACES, the UK's academic association for Contemporary European Studies. Charlotte Burns is a Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield. Her recent projects involve analysing the impacts of Brexit on UK and EU environmental policy and the impact of the global financial and economic crisis upon EU environmental policy. Her research has appeared in a range of leading journals including the Journal of European Public Policy, the Journal of Common Market Studies and Environmental Politics.