Synopses & Reviews
Discusses how the European integration process broke down, but also how it can be repaired.
Review
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."
Václav Klaus, President, The Czech RepublicAt 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 Europhiles as much as by Eurosceptics. While praising the EU's achievements, not least in promoting and sustaining democracy in previously undemocratic countries, Gillingham condemns the drift towards bureaucratic centralism, which has produced an ever-widening gap between institutions and the people. Moves to slim down the Brussels bureaucracy and to transfer some responsibilities to the member states, he rightly argues, do not imply dismantling the EU, but rather rebuilding it on sounder foundations.
Sir Geoffrey Owen, Senior Fellow, Institute of Management, London School of Economics, and former editor of The Financial TimesBy 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 LawJohn Gillingham has established himself as one of those very rare commentators who can read European historian in three dimensions. He knows it very well but is never overwhelmed by it: he can appreciate the creativity of 'Old Europe.' Now, he looks at the strange phenomenon, why Europe has stagnated and why it has so much less to offer to the ambitious young than the USA. The reason? Partly institutional, in the sense that the institutions designed to make Europe work in the 1950s now have become a or even the problem - a necklace of skulls. This is a very readable and extremely knowledgeable book.
Norman Stone, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
Synopsis
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. This penetrating, fiercely-argued and often witty book subjects today's dysfunctional European Union to critical scrutiny 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 the prosperous and complacent west.
About the Author
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.
Table of Contents
Introduction; 1. Governance; 2. Economics; 3. Innovation; 4. Democracy; Conclusion.