Frances M. B. Lynch – författare

Many theoretical explanations had been offered for the rise of the European Community, but none had used historical analysis to draw out the deeper significance of the events that surrounded Maastricht. However, in this book, first published in 1993, the authors explored the process of European integration, and its future, drawing on extensive empirical research into the national archives of the member states. The authors brought their findings together in this consistently argued book to provide a new and coherent theory of European integration, which threw a fresh light on unexplored aspects of EC policy. The debate over the Treaty of Maastricht shows how ill-understood are the issues involved, and this book is intended to improve that understanding. It is essential reading to students of history, international relations and political science.

Many theoretical explanations had been offered for the rise of the European Community, but none had used historical analysis to draw out the deeper significance of the events that surrounded Maastricht. However, in this book, first published in 1993, the authors explored the process of European integration, and its future, drawing on extensive empirical research into the national archives of the member states. The authors brought their findings together in this consistently argued book to provide a new and coherent theory of European integration, which threw a fresh light on unexplored aspects of EC policy. The debate over the Treaty of Maastricht shows how ill-understood are the issues involved, and this book is intended to improve that understanding. It is essential reading to students of history, international relations and political science.

Despite being invariably misunderstood by anglophones and often derided in the English-language financial press, the French economy is one of the world’s major economies. For many years characterized by a distinctive economic model in which the French state intervened to correct or prevent market failures, as France has embraced the global market, its economy has increasingly converged with the western norm, but it remains different from its neighbours, particularly Germany and the UK, in a number of important respects.This general economic history of modern France – the first in the English language for nearly twenty years – provides an authoritative analysis of the workings of the modern French economy since its postwar reforms through to the present day. The book explores the monetary and fiscal policies of successive governments and the country’s economic performance through a variety of indicators. In particular the book considers the attempts by the state to correct the regional imbalances associated with the contraction of agriculture and the decline of historically important industries as well as mitigating the dominance of Paris. The parts played by demographic change, migration, inequality, and the European project in French economic development are also investigated alongside the strength and competitiveness of key industries like finance, energy and transport.