Roger Scully - Böcker

An almost universal point of agreement in contemporary political science is that 'institutions matter'. But the governing institutions of the European Union are widely presumed to matter more than most. A commonplace assumption about the EU is that those working within European institutions are subject to a pervasive tendency to become socialized into progressively more pro-integration attitudes and behaviours. The assumption has been integral to many accounts of European integration, and is also central to how scholars study individual EU institutions. However, the theoretical and empirical adequacy of this assumption has never been properly investigated. A serious study of whether political actors in the EU do tend to 'go native' or not - and why - is long overdue.This study examines this question in the context of an increasingly important EU institution, the European Parliament. The book integrates new theoretical arguments with a substantial amount of original empirical research. It develops a coherent understanding, based on simple rationalist principles, of when and why institutional socialization is effective. This theoretical argument explains the main empirical findings of the book. Drawing on several sources of evidence on MEPs' attitudes and behaviour, and deploying advanced empirical techniques, the empirical analysis shows the commonplace assumption about EU institutions to be false. European Parliamentarians do not become more pro-integration as they are socialized into the institution.The findings of the study generate some highly important conclusions. They indicate that institutional socialization of political elites should be given a much more limited and conditional role in understanding European integration than it is accorded in many accounts. They suggest that MEPs remain largely national politicians in their attitudes, loyalties, and much of their activities, and that traditional classifications of the European Parliament as a 'supra-national' institution are misleading. Finally, the study offers broader lessons about the circumstances in which institutions effectively socialize those working within them.

The past 15 years have seen declining public support for European integration, and widespread suggestions that a legitimacy crisis faces the European Union (EU). Many in the EU have believed that this problem could be effectively tackled by vesting greater powers in the European Parliament (EP), the Union's only directly-elected institution. The central argument of this book is that, while considerable efforts have been made to increase the status of the EP, it is in crucial respects a failure as a representative body. This failure is grounded in the manner in which the parliament is elected. The electoral systems used for EP elections in many EU countries are, we argue, actively obstructive of Europe's voters being represented in the way that they are most likely to respond positively towards. While the behaviour of EP members is shaped strongly by the electoral systems under which they are elected (which vary across the 25 member-states of the EU), the electoral systems currently in place push most of them to behave in ways contrary to what citizens desire. Drawing on public opinion data, surveys of MEPs and considerable qualitative interview evidence, we show that the failure of parliamentary representation in the EU has a strong foundation in electoral institutions.

Europe, Regions and European Regionalism examines the political role of regions and regionalism within contemporary Europe. Offering an up-to-date analysis of regionalism with a broad empirical scope, this book explores regions and regionalism in the period after the substantial enlargements of the European Union.

First published in 2004, this is the fourteenth annual volume published under the auspices of the Elections, Public opinion and Parties (EPOP) specialist group of the Political Studies Association (PSA) of the United Kingdom. The 2003 September Cardiff conference was distinguished by the First Minister for Wales, Rt Hon. Rhodri Morgan AM. This is a collection of twelve papers from the conference and a reference section.

Wales Says Yes provides the definitive account and analysis of the March 2011 Welsh referendum. Drawing on extensive historical research, the book explains the background to the referendum, why it was held and what was at stake. The book also explains how the rival Yes and No campaigns emerged, and the varying degree of success with which they functioned. Through a detailed account of the results, and analysis of survey evidence on Welsh voters, the book explains why Wales voted Yes in March 2011. Finally, it considers what that result may mean for the future of both Wales and the UK.

Who is really making EU laws and regulations? Formally, and according to most popular accounts, responsibility lies with European politicians who are directly elected (MEPs) or indirectly accountable to elected bodies at the European or national level (council). In practice, however, as this book shows, things can be very different. The real makers of European legislation and rules are frequently unelected and far from the public gaze. This book describes and evaluates the role of many such unseen lawmakers, including commission officials, experts from national governments and companies, lobbyists, secretaries of the council and others.