Multi-Level Governance and European Integration

Liesbet Hooghe is associate professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Gary Marks is professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and director of the UNC Center for European Studies.

This is the book for which many have waited. Over the last decade, the authors, singly and jointly, have published a series of fascinating articles that challenged the conventional dichotomy of intergovernmental and supranational interpretations of European Union politics. The present volume synthesizes and extends these analyses, demonstrating not only the superior plausibility and internal consistency of the multi-level perspective, but also the wide range of research questions to which it can be usefully applied. Among the highlights are not only definitive accounts of the rise and decline of multi-level cohesion policies, but also sophisticated analyses of multiple identifications at the level of constituencies and of divergent orientations toward European integration among Commission officials and among national political parties. Altogether, this volume combines a wealth of empirical information with incisive analyses that are integrated in a convincing theoretical framework. A must for every student of European Union politics.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionChapter 2 Multi-level Governance in the European UnionPart 3 Part I: Sources of Multi-level GovernanceChapter 4 A Historical PerspectiveChapter 5 Multiple IdentitiesChapter 6 Why National Leaders Diffuse AuthorityPart 7 Part II: Multi-Level Governance with the RegionsChapter 8 Variations in Cohesion PolicyChapter 9 Cohesion Policy Under ThreatChapter 10 Channels to EuropePart 11 Part III:Contestation in a Multi-Level PolityChapter 12 The Struggle over European IntegrationChapter 13 Supranationalism Contested in the CommissionChapter 14 Political Parties Take a StandChapter 15 BibliographyChapter 16 IndexChapter 17 Appendices