Opting Out of the European Union
Diplomacy, Sovereignty and European Integration

This book provides the first in-depth account of how European Union opt-outs and differentiated integration work in practice.

Rebecca Adler-Nissen (Author)

9781107043213, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 August 2014

266 pages, 4 b/w illus. 6 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.53 kg

'Rebecca Adler-Nissen's book makes for fascinating and counter-intuitive reading … this is a serious, scholarly book and not an exercise in instant analysis. Adler-Nissen spent years doing multiple rounds of in-depth interviews with large numbers of diplomats to support her argument. Along the way, she has done a great service by underscoring that European integration is sociological, as well as political, legal and economic, in character.' Pierre Hassner, Survival: Global Politic and Strategy

European integration continues to deepen despite major crises and attempts to take back sovereignty. A growing number of member states are reacting to a more constraining EU by negotiating opt-outs. This book provides the first in-depth account of how opt-outs work in practice. It examines the most controversial cases of differentiated integration: the British and Danish opt-outs from Economic and Monetary Union and European policies on borders, asylum, migration, internal security and justice. Drawing on over one hundred interviews with national representatives and EU officials, the author demonstrates how representatives manage the stigma of opting out, allowing them to influence even politically sensitive areas covered by their opt-outs. Developing a practice approach to European integration, the book shows how everyday negotiations transform national interests into European ideals. It is usually assumed that states opt out to preserve sovereignty, but Adler-Nissen argues that national opt-outs may actually reinforce the integration process.

1. Introduction
2. Disintegrating Europe?
3. A political sociology of European integration
4. The stigma of Euro-outsiderness
5. Through the revolving doors of freedom, justice and security
6. Late sovereign diplomacy
7. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: EU & European institutions [JPSN2], International relations [JPS], Politics & government [JP]