Rethinking the Union of Europe Post-Crisis
Has Integration Gone Too Far?

Provocative and timely examination of European integration and the specific methods that lead to the ill-fated monetary union.

Giandomenico Majone (Author)

9781107694798, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 April 2014

376 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.54 kg

In this important new book, Giandomenico Majone examines the crucial but often overlooked distinction between the general aim of European integration and the specific method of integration employed in designing an (ill-considered) monetary union. Written with the author's customary insight and precision, this highly topical and provocative book reviews the Union's leaders' tradition of pushing through ambitious projects without considering the serious hurdles that lie in the way of their success. Regional and European integration topics are discussed, including credibility of commitments, delegation of powers, bargaining and influence activities, adverse selection and moral hazard. The author also offers a deeper examination of the specific crisis of monetary integration, arguing that it might be more effectively achieved with inter-jurisdictional competition and suggesting how integration should be managed in the globalized world.

Introduction: varieties of regional integration
1. Monetary union as a metaphor
2. A political culture of total optimism: its rise and fall
3. Integration and its modes
4. Deepening integration: transaction costs and sociopolitical limits
5. European integration and the decoupling of politics and economics
6. From the democratic deficit to a democratic default? The normative dimension of the Euro crisis
7. 'More Europe'
8. The limits of leaderless Europe
9. Integration through cooperative competition
10. The nation state between globalization and regional integration.

Subject Areas: International economic & trade law [LBBM], Law [L], Politics & government [JP]