The Member States of the European Union

Simon Bulmer graduated in European Studies from Loughborough University, and then took a Masters in European Politics at Hull, followed by his PhD at the London School of Economics. He was lecturer in the Department of Economics, Heriot-Watt University (1979-83), in European Studies at UMIST (1983-9) and then joined the Department of Government at the University of Manchester, where he was promoted to a professorship in 1995 and was Head of Department 2001-4. Since 2007 he has been Professor of European Politics at the University of Sheffield, where he was Head of Department 2011-14. He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences, and visiting professor at LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome.Christian Lequesne holds BA and MA degrees from Sciences Po Strasbourg and the College of Europe, Bruges. He then got his Ph.D. in political science and his Habilitation in Sciences Po Paris (Supervisor: Professor Alfred Grosser). He was an Assistant, Department of Political and Administrative Studies of the College of Europe (1986-1988). Research fellow and then Professor at Sciences Po since 1988, he was deputy director of CERI from 2000 to 2003, and director of CERI from 2009 to 2013. Director of the Centre français de recherche en sciences sociales (CEFRES) in Prague from 2004 to 2006, LSE-Sciences Po Alliance Professor at the European Institute of the London School of Economics from 2006 to 2008 and member and vice-president of the Board of Directors of Sciences Po from 2007 to 2013. He is a regular Visiting Professor at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna and LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome.

The book does a good job of introducing, analysing and describing many of the EUs processes and procedures and how they affect and are affected by its member states. The best part, though, for me was the masterly introductory chapter on EU integration, which was refreshingly clear, detailed and successful in forecasting the possible futures for, as well as describing the present and past of, the EU and its member states. The book ends on an optimistic note, noting that the UKs less than glorious exit from the EU...appears to have demonstrated even to Eurosceptics that leaving is really not a good idea!

• 1: Simon Bulmer and Christian Lequesne: The European Union and its Member States: An Overview Part 1: Analysis 2: Christopher Bickerton: Member States in European Integration 3: Theofanis Exadaktylos, Paolo R. Graziano, and Maarten P. Vink: Europeanization: Concept, Theory, and Methods Part 2: The Member States 4: Olivier Rozenberg: 'France is back'...in a French Europe 5: Timm Beichelt and Simon Bulmer: Germany: A German Europe or a Europeanized Germany? 6: Dimitris Papadimitriou and Sotirios Zartaloudis: Greece: A Critical Test Case of Europeanization 7: Ana Mar Fernández Pasarín and Francesc Morata: Spain: Pragmatic Europeanism or the End of Unconditional Support for European Integration? 8: Anna Michalski: Sweden: Shedding Exceptionalism in the Face of Europeanization 9: Nathaniel Copsey and Karolina Pomorska: Poland: Model European or Awkward Partner? 10: Petia Gueorguieva: Bulgaria's Slow Europeanization 11: Anand Menon and Luigi Scazzieri: The United Kingdom: Towards a Parting of the Ways 12: Simon Bulmer and Christian Lequesne: Contrasting States of Europeanization? Part 3: Europeanization 13: Hussein Kassim and Vanessa Buth: Europeanization and Member State Institutions 14: Paul Taggart: Europeanization, Euroscepticism, and Politicization in Party Politics 15: Sabine Saurugger: The Europeanization of Interest Groups and Social Movements 16: Claudio M. Radaelli: The Europeanization of Member State Policy 17: Peter Bursens: Europeanization and Sub-National Authorities (SNAs) 18: Vivien A. Schmidt: The Europeanization of National Economies? 19: Simon Bulmer and Christian Lequesne: Conclusion