*** GIANDOMENICO MAJONE: Rethinking the Union of Europe Post-Crisis. Has Integration Gone Too Far? Cambridge University Press (The Edinburgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK. Tel: (44-1223) 326070 - fax: 315052 - Internet: http://www.cambridge.org ). 2014, 370 pp. £21.99 or $34.99 (soft cover), £55 and $90 (hard cover). ISBN 978-1-107-69479-8 ou 978-1-107-06305-1.
Over the years, Giandomenico Majone has trained students at the European University Institute in Florence, providing them with the necessary tools to correctly analyse public policy, particularly policies developed at a European level. Although he is currently an Emeritus professor, he has not abandoned his scientific research or his wish to provide appropriate, uncomplicated and audacious answers that his reflections regarding current developments may create. This subsequently provides his book with its subtitle and main thread throughout, which sounds like a clap of thunder: has European integration gone too far? The meticulous and scientifically polished answers he provides to this question are equally as explosive and suggest that the construction process we have experienced over the past sixty years could possibly look quite different in the future …
The first controversial propos concerns the nation state, which so many had thought defunct at the end of the 1940s. The author puts them right by asserting that, “the truth is that Spinelli like many other intellectuals, then and today, underestimated both the astonishing ability of the European national state to respond to the disasters of the 20th century and the depth of popular attachment to national sovereignty”. The increasing power of inter-governmentalism in the context of the Euro-zone crisis does not allow for any room for contradiction in this respect. Have the member states been wrong in this course of action? Perhaps not, if the author is to be believed and for whom the much favoured stock response advocating “more Europe” to tackle the crises, could actually prove an unproductive restraint given that there is no overall agreement on the objectives and best way of dealing with the respective crises. Given that this does appear to be the case in the European Union, the author argues that perhaps it would be better if the latter does not hamper the member states' freedom of action in the context of globalisation. European leaders would in this perspective do better if they were to question their choice regarding “deeper integration” - rather than a shallow integration - based on the example of Gatt, which sought to, “attain a maximum in free trade compatible with national autonomy”; the World Trade Organisation is now seeking much more ambitious and binding economic integration. Similarly to the way in which the Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community that stipulated that the, “opening up of the national markets to economic agents from other member states should be done without threatening the ability of each member state deciding on what should be the appropriate combination in regulatory and tax policies”, the first breach in the dam appeared in 1979 with the Cassis de Dijon decision at the European Court of Justice. Since then there has been a tidal wave that has continually undermined national regulation that could possibly prove a violation to European economic freedoms. Diktats must be arranged with Euro-zone members, some more than others, which constitute the apotheosis in this relinquishment of power in the respective national democracies.
There are other questions of this kind that are even more controversial. As suggested by the economist Dani Rodrik, is a model for deep integration sustainable when political democracies are still organised according to national borders? Can it indeed be so when it involves a, “depoliticised and federalised monetary union”? At the very moment when the principle of national sovereignty has come to the fore at an unprecedented level, the European Union and its institutions are confronting increasing hostility. These are some of the questions that Giandomenico Majone believes should be tackled if we want to prevent an explosion occurring. He believes that it is time that they should acknowledge the fact that simply blaming the small countries like Greece and Cyprus is a cop-out, as is the mantra of reducing public deficits because the system as a whole is to blame: in 2003 everyone knew that the reliability of Greece's accounts was just an illusion but the member states have not since then provided satisfactory answers to the Commission, which suggested to them that the official statistics office, Eurostat, should be able to check national accounts more thoroughly. Subsequently, there is now a crisis of legitimacy sweeping through the Union, with the institutions not being able to tackle the challenges that it has had to deal with. The author believes therefore that it is the very nature and objectives of the integration process that should be rethought in the here and now, whilst taking into account the proven fact that the cost of accession to the principle of basic equality and dignity for all member states continually grows when the number of members of the Union increases and when more competencies are transferred to a European level. Whence the suggestion from Majone to abandon the “collective good” that the Union sought to the benefit of more flexible agreements that leave member states with more room for manoeuvre in a set up that becomes the “club of clubs”. This book is provocative from cover to cover but it also forces us to think about the ultimate objectives and even far beyond.
Michel Theys
*** DANIELE PASQUINUCCI, DANIELA PREDA, LUCIANO TOSI (Editors): Communicating Europe. Journals and European Integration 1939-1979. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, Postfach 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). 2013, 610 pp. €113. ISBN 978-3-0343-1472-5.
This book is the extension of a conference organised by the Associazione universitaria di studi europei in May 2013 in Perugia and Assise. It involves researchers and practitioners in the task of analysing different publications from the beginning of the Second World War to the end of the 1970s. The publications accompanied and promoted the march to European integration and raised awareness among the different segments of public opinion about the causes behind and actions taken by Community Europe. The book is divided into four parts. The first focuses on the “Movements for European Unity Press”, such as publications written by activists, most of which were resolutely federalist and following on the lines of the newspapers written by the European Youth Campaign (1951-1958) and the Il Federalista and L'Europe en formation reviews. In the contribution beginning this part of the book, Professor Daniela Preda (University of Geneva) mentions Agence Europe's newsletter and its supplementary publications, such as the Bibliothèque européenne and the “fundamental role” it has played since 1953, “in publishing the news”. The attention received is most touching and some readers will even deem it quite appropriate and even warranted but it is, however, a little curious to see Agence Europe categorised as an activist publication despite the fact that it has always been an organ of the independent press with the aim of providing objective and comprehensive news. The editorials by Emanuele Gazzo, followed by Ferdinando Riccardi, are the only ones to have demonstrated support for the process initiated by the Schuman Declaration. Perhaps it would be better if it were located in the second part of the book, focusing on cultural reviews and the specialised press. The third part does indeed focus on the publications of the parties and social movements. Finally, five different authors assess, “the birth of European communications”, which, unfortunately, fits perfectly with what the European Commission's press service has become and whose first steps were very different and is described as such.
(MT)
*** MICHEL GRUNEWALD, HANS-JÜRGEN LÜSEBRINK, REINER MARCOWITZ, UWE PUSCHNER (Editors): France-Allemagne au XXe siècle - La production de savoir sur l'Autre / Deutschland und Frankreich im 20. Jahrhundert - Akademische wissensproduktion über das andere Land. Volume 3: Les institutions / Band 3: Die Institutionen. Peter Lang (see address attached). "Convergences" series, No. 75. 2013, 379 pp. €90. ISBN 978-3-0343-1293-6.
This book is the result of the work undertaken by a colloquy at the University of Lorraine almost two years ago as part of a research programme bringing together different academic publications together from France and Germany. It focuses on the French, German and bi-national institutions that have played and continue to play a crucial role in the academic reproduction of knowledge about France and Germany and the relations between these two countries. Four varieties of institutions are covered, beginning with the university institutions involved in the production of knowledge about the two countries. The structures are then covered that seek to provide an exhaustive coverage of the levels of education and research, as well as the bodies involved in research and providing expertise. Finally, the last group looks at the three bodies involved in mediation and information. The editors of the book explain that their activities clearly illustrate the different twists and turns involved in Franco-German relations and the production of knowledge about the respective countries.
(PBo)
*** CHRISTIAN GELLINEK: Deutschland im Staatenverbund. Peter Lang (see address attached). 2014, 121 p. €22.95. ISBN 978-3-631-64642-7.
In what could be described as an essay about Germany, Christian Gellinek deliberately bases his analysis on a rather reckless approach towards both form and substance. Nevertheless, the existence of a plan regarding his approach, as well as his summary at the end of the book fail to conceal the rather poor structural underpinning of the book as a whole. The chapter titles are not contained in the written text either (was this also deliberate?), which makes the reading hard going and the attentive reader is obliged to continually consult the chapter or subchapter at the beginning of the book. On many different occasions, the author appears to lose the main thread in his subject and in some cases compile one idea after another, without successfully establishing any kind of real relationship between them (the most striking example is how the memory of the holocaust is treated in Germany in the middle of a chapter that looks at the German approach to tourism and which is entitled, “The Individual in the New Society”). The basis of his arguments on subjects that are, nonetheless, serious, is often cursory, lacking in depth and based more on pre-conceived ideas rather than on any real demonstration of the facts. There are indeed moments when the author appears to have put form before content: an allegory of the conductor of an orchestra who only turns up occasionally and through rhetoric and rhyme. This determination does enable the author, however, to tackle certain issues that are often ruled out of bounds by the German “politically correct”: Christian Gellinek takes a courageous position with regard to German policy towards Israel and he also presents an interesting insight into the relationship Germany has with some of its “Germanic” neighbours such as Austria and the Netherlands. His analysis of the role of television advertising is also interesting. We also observe that the arguments relating to linguistics and the German language at the end of the book, where the rhetoric and rhymes are fewer, demonstrate greater consistency in his arguments than in other subjects. Nonetheless, despite these few areas of clarity, it is not of huge interest to the reader, who really does have the right to expect a more robust rendering and depth from an experienced academic who is tackling a subject that is of great contemporary interest …
(GLe)
*** DOROTA PRASZA£OWICZ, ANNA SOSNA-SCHUBERT (Editors): Deutsche und polnische Migrationserfahrungen, Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. Peter Lang (see address attached). "Migration - Ethnicity - Nation: Cracow studies in culture, society and politics" series. 2014, 438 pp. €69.95. ISBN 978-3-631-64788-2.
This collection of articles seeks to analyse the relationships between people of Germany and Poland, in light of the migration to each other's country, as well as “joint” migration to third countries (particularly the US and Canada). The articles included are historical but also look at contemporary questions. A communality running through them all is the well-documented references and bibliographies that frequently testify to the high level work undertaken and to avoid there being too much of a focus on certain subjects that have already been tackled (such as Polish emigration to the Ruhr, for example) and for them to be able to concentrate on less frequent yet still crucial themes, such as Polish emigration to the new German regions that became border regions in 1945; the determination to take into account the complexity of the German-Polish historic factor (multiplicity of migration for economic and political reasons, border displacement) and to tackle problems that can arise in the relationships between the two peoples, whilst looking at future prospects.
(GLe)
*** EDDY FOUGIER: Fiches d'actualité et de culture générale. Ellipses Edition Marketing (32 rue Bargue, F-75740 Paris Cedex 15. Tel: (33-1) 45677419 - fax: 47346794 - Internet: http://www.editions-ellipses.fr ). Collection "Optimum". 2014, 329 pp. €23. ISBN 978-2-7298-8495-6.
Eddy Fougier is head of education at Sciences Po Aix-en-Provence and the Higher Institute for teaching journalism. He wrote this book in an effort to go beyond the infotainment that is increasingly submerging our television screens and he returns to around thirty different files on a number of fundamental events that have occurred by analysing contemporary trends that are sometimes located on the edges of what are regarded as burning issues and which are sometimes described as part of general culture. These trends are grouped together in eight major thematic areas. One of them focuses on Europe and the author looks at the true meaning of the integration enterprise and the challenges the European Union and its institutions are confronted with. Other major themes tackled include the state of France, the economy and globalisation, the contemporary history of international relations, geopolitics and security in the context of world conflicts and the main threats posed by jihadi terrorism, the reconfiguration of the role played by states, the global challenges facing international criminal justice, the fight against hunger and climate change. The final theme looks at perspectives and the author identifies the “megatrends” that are currently modelling the contours of tomorrow's world.
(MT)