Brigid Laffan – författare

The European Union faces a set of inter-related crises that it struggles to contain and address. By exploring how the EU responds to crises and conflict, this volume addresses both its resilience and vulnerability. The EU faces significant challenges: European integration is increasingly politicised; democratic politics within member states are increasingly volatile; challenger parties threaten the status quo; and party systems are shifting throughout Europe. These crises test both the EU and individual states, especially those that had to exchange interdependence in the Union for dependence on the Troika. Despite the tension of hard times, this volume points to patterns of continuity and change as the single market, somewhat side-lined and forgotten in the heat of crises, retains its role as the hard core of the Union and the EU’s most significant achievement. This book was originally published as a special issue of West European Politics.

An ideal introductory text for students studying the EU, International politics and organisations, or economics: Laffan clearly explains the evolution and extent of European integration in areas ranging from industrial development to international relations and considers the problems that new political and economic demands from the East may raise.

Europe's Experimental Union challenges conventional writings on European integration by situating the analysis of the EU in the context of changing patterns of political and economic order. The authors conclude that the union is not evolving towards a federal superstate, but rather, is an arena of deep economic integration governed by a prismatic polity characterised by innovation, experimentation, pragmatism, decentralisation and devolution. Although it may seem unsettleed, this book reveals that in fact the experimental nature of the EU enablwes it to respond to multiple agendas and Europe's diversity in a flexible manner.

Europe's Experimental Union challenges conventional writings on European integration by situating the analysis of the EU in the context of changing patterns of political and economic order. The authors conclude that the union is not evolving towards a federal superstate, but rather, is an arena of deep economic integration governed by a prismatic polity characterised by innovation, experimentation, pragmatism, decentralisation and devolution. Although it may seem unsettleed, this book reveals that in fact the experimental nature of the EU enablwes it to respond to multiple agendas and Europe's diversity in a flexible manner.

The European Union faces a set of inter-related crises that it struggles to contain and address. By exploring how the EU responds to crises and conflict, this volume addresses both its resilience and vulnerability. The EU faces significant challenges: European integration is increasingly politicised; democratic politics within member states are increasingly volatile; challenger parties threaten the status quo; and party systems are shifting throughout Europe. These crises test both the EU and individual states, especially those that had to exchange interdependence in the Union for dependence on the Troika. Despite the tension of hard times, this volume points to patterns of continuity and change as the single market, somewhat side-lined and forgotten in the heat of crises, retains its role as the hard core of the Union and the EU’s most significant achievement. This book was originally published as a special issue of West European Politics.

An ideal introductory text for students studying the EU, International politics and organisations, or economics: Laffan clearly explains the evolution and extent of European integration in areas ranging from industrial development to international relations and considers the problems that new political and economic demands from the East may raise.

Successive Enlargements to the European Union membership have transformed it into an economically, politically and culturally heterogeneous body with distinct vulnerabilities in its multi-level governance. This book analyses core-periphery relations to highlight the growing cleavage, and potential conflict, between the core and peripheral member-states of the Union in the face of the devastating consequences of Eurozone crisis. Taking a comparative and theoretical approach and using a variety of case studies, it examines how the crisis has both exacerbated tensions in centre-periphery relations within and outside the Eurozone, and how the European Union’s economic and political status is declining globally.This text will be of key interest to students and scholars of European Union studies, European integration, political economy, public policy, and comparative politics.

Successive Enlargements to the European Union membership have transformed it into an economically, politically and culturally heterogeneous body with distinct vulnerabilities in its multi-level governance. This book analyses core-periphery relations to highlight the growing cleavage, and potential conflict, between the core and peripheral member-states of the Union in the face of the devastating consequences of Eurozone crisis. Taking a comparative and theoretical approach and using a variety of case studies, it examines how the crisis has both exacerbated tensions in centre-periphery relations within and outside the Eurozone, and how the European Union’s economic and political status is declining globally.This text will be of key interest to students and scholars of European Union studies, European integration, political economy, public policy, and comparative politics.

Recent times have witnessed a dramatic turn around in Ireland's fortunes. From being a poor and peripheral state, it has emerged as a prosperous, dynamic and self-assured player among the nations of Europe. For many, the Irish experience provides a model of the potential rewards of European integration. But, just how far are changes in Irish society the result of EU membership? What difference has the EU made to Ireland and, for that matter, Ireland to the EU?This major new study of Irish-European relations provides a rich account of Ireland's membership of the EU and the impact of the EU on the institutions, policy and economy of Ireland It will be read with benefit by all who want to further understand what Europe means for Ireland and those wanting to learn from Ireland's experience in a comparative context.

This book is the first detailed analysis of how the EU responded to Brexit. The Brexit shock came at a time when the EU had barely recovered from the Euro crisis and was struggling to manage an unprecedented inflow of refugees. In reality, the EU reacted to Brexit with resolve and a determination to protect the polity.