Beyond the Regulatory Polity?: The European Integration of Core State Powers - Softcover

Most EU-scholars conceive of the EU as a multilevel polity with strong powers to regulate economic policy externalities among the member states but little power to intervene in, let alone assume, core functions of sovereign government ('core state powers') such as foreign and defense policy, public finance, public administration, and the maintenance of law and order. This book challenges this view. Based on a systematic comparison of integration processes in military security, fiscal policy, and public administration, it finds steady progress in the integration of core state powers although with substantial sectoral variation. But the EU is not heading towards state-building. In contrast to the historical experience of national federations, the European integration of core state powers proceeds mostly by regulating national capacities, not by creating European ones, and leads to territorial fragmentation rather than increased cohesiveness.

Philipp Genschel is Professor of Political Science at Jacobs University Bremen and a former Research Associate at the Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne. He held visiting appointments at the European University Institute in Florence, the University of Chicago, the University Bremen, Harvard University, and the Technical University Munich. Markus Jachtenfuchs is Professor of European and Global Governance at the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin. After receiving his PhD from the European University Institute in Florence, he held positions at the Mannheim Center for European Social Research, the University of Greifswald, Jacobs University Bremen, and a visiting appointment at the Harvard Kennedy School.