*** HANS-ÅKE PERSSON, BO STRÅTH (Editors): Reflections on Europe. Defining a Political Order in Time and Space. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes - Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Multiple Europes" series, No. 37. 2007, 426 pp., €37.50. ISBN 978-90-5201-065-6.
There is no lack of books on the nature of Europe. What is Europe, where does it come from and where is it going? These are some of the questions frequently posed by writers. Some of these books are a rehash but others bring a valuable contribution to understanding Europe and adopt less hackneyed and more innovative angles of approach. This is incontestably the case of this book. The subtitle might, however, have created fears of it being about a reassessment of the definition of Europe as a part of the world that has inherited Greek philosophy based on Roman law and completed with a good dose of Judeo-Christianity. Fortunately, Hans-Åke Persson and Bo Stråth are not that simplistic and immediately explain that the definition of Europe's borders in relation to the idea of a specific Christian heritage or “core values” from Ancient Greece and Rome are inexact or at least, quite insufficient, in the context of the historical reality of the continent. The authors therefore state, “hence, Europe is not Greek in origin or Eurasian, but rather is a culture characterised by the appropriation of Otherness”. In contrast to the watered down versions of the “birth” of Europe, which create the impression that it is the natural result of historic continuity (a trend that has largely been applied in the forming of nation states…), the editors explained that, “it seems urgent that the construction of Europe's borders in time and space be built on a confrontation with the dark sides of Europe's past through critical deconstruction and reconstruction…”
This collectively written book covers Europe in general but the European Union is obviously very much in focus as the major political construction of our time. That said, although it reveals the problems blocking European integration it does not aim, however, to provide watertight solutions to the current situation and instead provides an historical perspective to the current state of developments. This is why the writers explain, “In the present situation of European perplexity there are good reasons to create critical distance through the retrieval of earlier examples of European political coordination before and after the Westphalian Peace”. It therefore provides an a posteriori insight into many points involving European construction. For example, on the subject of European Monetary Union, Bo Stråth and Hans-Åke Persson are keen to point out that, “as soon as the instrument (EMU) has been activated, the belief emerged that the machine was running by itself, with the ECB as supervisor " - or the Treaty of Maastricht which, at the time it was agreed was, “seen as the beginning of a new era”. They also add that, “with Maastricht, the EU was drawn into this impossible enterprise of creating a world without borders”. We therefore find quite provocative theses that encourage reflection. Overall, the book appeals for, “a clearer distinction between the political and the cultural when we talk about Europe and European integration”. Using European integration as a starting point, as well as thorny contemporary questions such as Turkish accession, Bo Stråth and Hans-Åke Persson are keen to point out that, “any definition of a strict border must be based on estimations of the political capacity, not on dreams of cultural cohesion”. Nevertheless, the cultural dimensions not sidelined and the dichotomy between politics and culture is found in the structure of the book in which contributions are subdivided into two parts. The first part is called, “Europe as a political order: Between Polity and Cosmopolity”. The option chosen by the editors of the book is to counterpose polity (the term derives from the Ancient Greek for describing city states and is currently used to describe an organisation or political group in its broadest sense) with cosmopolity rather than the notions of con-federalism and federalism, for example. This first part proposes an ensemble of contributions which, to be brief, retraces evolutions in the idea of Europe. We start with the Renaissance to recall that developments by men such as Erasmus, Grottius and Juste Lipse brought to the domain of governance and public life. It also retraces the inter-war pan-European movement, that is tainted by the stench of dictatorship from the epoch and by men such as Coudenove-Kalergi. Other contributions tackle the issue of size in the evolution of post-war Europe in relation to the US. In her chapter, “Europe in the American Mirror”, Sophie Huber shows how trans-Atlantic relations have not only profoundly influenced the future of Europe but have also constituted an entry point for better understanding the nature of a Europe and European Community that are still looking for themselves. The second part, “Borders in time and Space” begins with a contribution by Fania Oz-Salzberger, who provides a number of impressions by a former European Jewish woman on her much loved but abandoned continent. This is part of a number of other contributions that examine, as the title indicates, how exactly the concept of European borders has evolved. This touches on internal borders, as illustrated in the case of the Basque Country and the historic balancing act of German-Polish territory, as well as external borders, in light of the changes in attitude in Mediterranean countries.
Vivienne Boon and Gerard Delanty, say that history is always written from the perspective of the present day. There is no doubt that this book's clarifying retrospective will create a number of future perspectives.
Frederik Ronse
*** KATHRIN BÖHLING: Opening up the Black Box. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.de ). "European University Studies series - Europäische Hochschulschriften - Publications Universitaires Européennes", No. 416. 2007, 168 pp., €31.80. ISBN 978-3-631-55691-7.
Knowledge about the European institutions is rather fragmented and often subject to quite odd representations. This is particularly the case for the European Commission, which is regularly perceived in the collective imagination as a bureaucratic kraken or in the words of Kathrin Böhling, “a corrupt, complacent and overpaid supranational institution”. Of course, the most astute observers will recognise that this view does not do the institution justice. But even for those who regularly have dealings with it or know how it works, the Commission, in the same way as the other major institutions and administrations, retain the allure of the black box, in certain respects. Böhling invites us to open the lid to this box. She wants to provide an understanding about how the Commission works, through its interaction with the outside world, and how this learning process and implementation of the “institutional memory” impacts on how it functions. To this end, Böhling uses a sociological approach and draws on both empirical studies and theoretical assumptions. As in the case of a lot of work in doctoral theses, this book maintains its ties to its origins, in the form of a detailed presentation of the methodology, which will not only be of interest to administrators in the field but also for all those concerned by, “the recalcitrant tools (of their architects), tools that have a life of their own” and who could benefit from the detailed analysis of this mechanism as expressed by, for example, Directorate General “Information Society”.
(FRo)
*** NICOLAS SAUGER, SYLVAIN BROUARD, EMILIANO GROSSMAN: Les Français contre l'Europe ? Les sens du référendum du 29 mai 2005. Presses de Sciences Po (117 bd Saint-Germain, F-75007 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 45483602 - E-mail: presses@sciences-po.fr - Internet: http://www.sciences-po.fr/edition/ ). "Fait politique" series. 2007, 155 pp., €17. ISBN 978-2-7246-1026-0.
Researchers at the Centre de recherches politiques de Sciences Po, (the authors of this book) seek to provide analysis of the referendum in which the French people voted against the constitutional treaty. In their book they also explore the relationship of the French to Europe. Firstly, they analyse the reasons for holding a referendum in France, the dynamic of the election campaign and point out that, “by placing the social question at the centre of the debates, this campaign experienced an undeniable transformation in the European stakes at play”, notably the vote itself and the consequences this had at a European level. One of their conclusions is that although the “no” vote was for some people the expression of traditional Euro-scepticism (defence of sovereignty), for many others the vote against was an expression of “a Euro-scepticism in relation to the absence of a social Europe and its consequences and a problematic enlargement of the EU”. It was the level and intensity of this other kind of Euro-scepticism that motivated a marginal but decisive fraction of left voters.
(MT)
*** PHILIPPE J. MAAREK (Editor): Chronique d'un "non" annoncé: la communication politique et l'Europe (June 2004 - mai 2005). L'Harmattan (5-7 rue de l'Ecole polytechnique, F-75005 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40467920 - fax: 43258203 - E-mail: diffusion.harmattan@wanadoo.fr - Internet: http://www.editions-harmattan.fr ). "Communication et Civilisation" series. 2007, 243 p., €21 ISBN 978-2-296-02756-5.
The French and Dutch no votes on the Constitution were partly forecast by some of the characteristics of the communication campaigns developed during the 2004 European elections. This is one of the main lessons drawn from the authors in this highly useful book. The authors are researchers at the “Centre d'études compares en communication politique et publique”, of which Professor Maarek is the president (University Paris 12 Val de Marne). The researchers come from other countries in Europe. They all concur that the fact that European public space remains virtual, means that political communication accompanying elections linked to Europe is compromised by the construction process. Professor Maarek explains that, “in a kind of subconscious revenge of the nation state as exposed by Habernas, the purely national stakes would never have been so omnipresent or striking” than during the last European elections where the Nation appeared implicitly and suddenly as more reassuring than “Europe”. Even the “European” campaign of the Greens was no exception to the rule and confirmed that insofar as where the themes retained were effectively transversal and transposable, going beyond borders, they rarely had anything to do with Europe as it really is. The lacklustre communication resources of the European Parliament and Commission are highlighted, which fail to take into account that they clash with a “qualitative difficulty”, the cultural differences that cripple the effectiveness of the messages submitted and the numerous variations in how they are understood in the different societies in the Union. So many, many factors - which leads Professor Maarek to express fears about the “no” vote not just being an “electoral accident”.
(MT)
*** WOLFGANG BÖHM, OTMAR LAHODYNSKY: EU for YOU ! So funktioniert die Europäische Union. Öbvhpt (4 Frankgasse, 1090 Vienna. Tel: (43-0800) 202303 - fax: 01-4013660 - Internet: http://www.oebvhpt.at ). 2005, 128 pp., €16.80. ISBN 978-3-209-05007-6.
As members of the European Association of European Journalists, Wolfgang Böhm and Otmar Lahodynsky, both of whom have at a given time in their careers been correspondents at the European institutions in Brussels, have successfully drafted the first Austrian schools manual on Europe. The book seeks to provide a pedagogical tool that will bring young citizens and the Union closer together. They immediately explain that although this goal is true, Europe, “can only be strong when citizens are behind it…the understanding of its history and how it works”. This support is needed if the aim is to be accomplished. Four chapters for the reader clarify how the Union works, its tasks, its history and important figures and finally, the journey undertaken by Austria towards and into Europe. Every chapter is punctuated by a questionnaire that allows the subject matter in question to be examined. The presentation of the institutions is based on different plans, illustrations and practical examples. In the same way the authors tackle the economic situation in the Union and its democratic strengths, the evolution of the Euro, regional policy, Common Agricultural Policy and internal and external security. The book provides a clear picture to pupils and adults alike and proves to be a precious took for all citizens searching for a better understanding of what constitutes European action. It is however, above all, a persuasive schools manual for which José Manuel Barroso underlines the importance in the preface, “I congratulate the authors and editors for this idea: the young generation has the right to learn about Europe and to bring experiences of it together”.
(GDe)
*** JOSEF LANGER: Euroregions - The Alps-Adriatic Context. Peter Lang (see address attached). 2007, 259 pp., €42.50. ISBN 978-3-631-55357-2.
What future for European integration? Drawing on the work of a symposium of sociologists and experts held in Austria two years ago, this book examines the concept of the “Euroregion”. As well as providing a definition study of the different forms adopted in the history of the continent, the author looks into the future for this concept. As Head of the sociology department at the Austrian University of Klagenfurt, Josef Langer, explains that the main objective is, “a better understanding of cross-border cooperation by putting it into the wider context of European integration and European Union policies”. Euroregions are therefore tackled as “mini-models of European integration”. In the second part, the author provides a detailed analysis of cross-border cooperation in the Alps-Adriatic region, as well as to the perspectives in which these are located.
(TBa)