european union foreign policy: from effectiveness to functionality – by christopher j. bickerton

Book Reviewsjcms_2200 1363..1370

European Foreign Policies: Does Europe Still Matter?, edited by R. Tiersky and J.Van Oudenaren (Plymouth: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010, ISBN 9780742557796);viii + 318pp., £24.95 pb.

Today, most books on Europe’s position in global affairs tend to focus on theEuropean Union and its foreign policy. This has often predestined scholars to anEU-centric perspective. The major strength of this book is that it moves beyond thatperspective. Slightly provocatively, it tackles the question whether Europe stillmatters by looking at the multiple dimensions of European foreign policies. The12 contributions of this edited volume can be separated into three categories.In the first two chapters the authors deal with Europe’s place in the changinggeopolitical order and the EU’s foreign policy. The subsequent chapters focus onrelations between Europe and major powers (United States, Russia, China plus theMediterranean/Middle East) and Europe’s response to globalization. Finally, the lastchapters present the foreign policies of five states (France, the United Kingdom,Germany, Italy and Poland) and move most explicitly beyond an EU-centricapproach.

The authors take a predominantly geopolitical and realist approach, highlightingEurope’s role and responsibilities in an emerging multipolar world, where newbalancing is required. In his introductory chapter, Ronald Tiersky takes a strongnormative approach, pleading for ‘a more ambitious, assertive’ and ‘a more resoluteEurope’ in a new world order, rather than ‘a complacent, marginalized Europe,satisfied with prosperous irrelevance’ (pp. 12–13).

The book has all the advantages and disadvantages of an edited volume. Awide variety of topics and approaches is covered, but there is also a divergence interms of quality. Historical and geopolitical approaches dominate, but a coherentframework is lacking. The chapters neither support nor challenge a central argu-ment. Quite surprisingly, a conclusion tying different views together is missing.The book also fails to problematize Europe itself. Russia is a priori situated outsideEurope, and is called – without much argumentation – ‘Europe’s most significantinternational security problem today’ (p. 4), and so it would seem for Ukraine. Bylimiting itself to the foreign policies of leading EU Member States only, the bookeventually falls somewhat short of its laudable ambition to look beyond theEU’s role.

While some chapters are most interesting and nuanced (in particular, the con-tributions of Tocci and Voltolini, and the one by Gilbert), many contributions repro-duce common-sense views rather than present challenging new perspectives ororiginal arguments. Many chapters may form a solid introduction for non-European

JCMS 2011 Volume 49. Number 6. pp. 1363–1370

© 2011 The Author(s)JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 MainStreet, Malden, MA 02148, USA

undergraduate students, but they seldom shed a new light on Europe’s position inthe world.

TOM CASIERBrussels School of International Studies, University of Kent

European Identity and the Second World War, edited by M. Spiering and M. Wintle(Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, ISBN 978023027323); xv + 273pp., £55.00 hb.

This book, consisting of four parts, includes 14 different essays that provide insightinto the emergence of European identity and unity. Part I focuses on the issueof human rights, mainly in the post-war period, but also analyses the impact ofWorld War II on human rights and the perception of ‘Europeanness’. Part II accom-modates various perspectives on European identity such as historical, political andphilosophical approaches, highlighting the role of literature, history and politicalmedia in the process of self-identification in Europe. Part III reviews the ideationalbackground of a united Europe, as well as the future of Europe, discussing variousunification projects and the need to rebuild after World War II. In addition, itsynthesizes the concepts of the European nation-state and European integration,as inspired by the Americans. Part IV focuses specifically on the impact of theHolocaust on Europe post-1945, emphasizing how the catastrophe of World War IIand the Holocaust shaped European self-understanding when it came to identity(re)construction.

An excellent introduction to this book is provided by Michael Wintle, whoprovides a clear understanding of European identity and/or the perception ofEuropeanness. It is worth mentioning that the book does not contain any theoreticalstudy to define European identity or explain the identity construction process.Although the deliberate omission of a theoretical approach to European identitymight be regarded as a weakness by some readers, it is actually a positive aspectof the book. It is also remarkable that the book sheds light on Europe’s struggleto unite in the aftermath of World War II and later, the re-emergence of Euro-pean assertiveness and even, with the effects of economic prosperity, a certain‘Eurocentrism’.

In general, the editors have collected some outstanding essays on Europeanidentity and key developments in the post-war period. The only problem with thisbook is perhaps that it explains the issues of the post-World War II period, Europeanidentity and the uniting of Europe in extensive, at times excessive, detail. Althoughthe essays in this book are highly relevant to the general subject, they are notnecessarily complementary. For a reader who is not an expert on the period, this maypresent some difficulty for understanding the post-war period and the process ofEuropean identity construction.

RECEP DEMIRUniversity of Sheffield

1364 BOOK REVIEWS

© 2011 The Author(s)JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

The Regimes of European Integration: Constructing Governance of the SingleMarket, by S. Donnelly (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, ISBN9780199579402); ix + 273pp., £55.00 hb.

The single market remains very much at the heart of the European Union’s concerns,and this study of the regimes which have emerged to regulate financial markets andcompanies’ governance of the single market is an invaluable addition to the literatureon European integration and governance. Donnelly aims ‘to demonstrate that prioragreement of EU leaders on key constitutional norms was a prerequisite for regimedevelopment, and that this agreement had to support the thick constellation ofnational, socially embedded norms’. These bottom-up norms have proven morefruitful for achieving integration than any top-down imposition of ideas emanatingfrom the political elite that have failed to capture public support.

Donnelly examines three regimes established in 2001 governing company law,securities regulation and accounting standards. He sets out his normative approach interms of comparative and international relations theory, and then turns to examine thedevelopment of national norms in the United Kingdom and Germany, looking at EUpolicy in those areas prior to the establishment of these regimes. He then tests anumber of propositions (which he discusses in the first chapter) relating to thedevelopment of these regimes, before bringing together his findings, drawing con-clusions and suggesting further research. He submits that these regimes transformEuropean governance and the Member States, which play a key role in their gover-nance: they constitutionalize European governance in new and divergent ways, assignnew roles and identities to the participating actors, create between them horizontaland vertical modes of interaction, and define their rights and responsibilities, requir-ing those actors to apply the rules of the specific regimes. This latter point is scarcelynew as directives, and indeed regulations, have been making such demands for years.But what certainly is new is the structured approach to analysing these regimes.

Donnelly has produced a book rich in theoretical discussion on the basis ofthese three regimes, noting the preference for multi-level rather than supranationalforms of governance as the highest form of European integration. The role ofnational institutions is far from exhausted, as demonstrated by the role of nationalcentral banks in the European System of Central Banks, and of national competi-tion authorities operating alongside the Commission. This book is a major achieve-ment and it is a pleasure to recommend it highly to all those interested in the singlemarket.

LAURENCE GORMLEYUniversity of Groningen

EU Counterterrorism Policy: A Paper Tiger?, by O. Bures (Farnham: Ashgate, 2011,ISBN 9781409411239); xii + 277pp., £60.00 hb.

This informative book provides a comprehensive overview of the development andstatus quo of the European Union’s increasing efforts at fighting terrorism. Theanalysis focuses on the main institutions involved in counter-terrorism at the EU

BOOK REVIEWS 1365


level, as well as the most important legal instruments in this policy area. It will be ofinterest to students of EU studies or counter-terrorism as well as anybody interestedin the EU’s efforts at fighting terrorism.

The book is clearly organized into four main sections. Part I provides the widercontext of the book, exploring terrorist threats – and threat perceptions – within theEU Member States and the historical evolution of the EU’s policy field of counter-terrorism. Part II is concerned with the EU agencies involved in the fight againstterrorism, such as the European Police Office (Europol) and Eurojust. This is fol-lowed by an exploration of the main EU-wide legal counter-terrorism instruments inPart III. Finally, Part IV is devoted to ‘Current Dilemmas and Future Prospects’ andincludes a brief discussion of recent changes related to the Lisbon Treaty, the Stock-holm Programme and so on. The author uses insightful interview material for thebook, which strengthens its originality.

Overall, the author is very critical of the EU’s counter-terrorism policy. Accordingto him, the ‘EU counterterrorism policy has at times been more of a paper tiger thanan effective counterterrorism device and its value-added in all of the four pillars of theEU’s own Counterterrorism Strategy is currently somewhere between weak to mod-erate’ (p. 245). At the beginning of the book (pp. 3–6) the author provides a briefdiscussion of the question according to which yardstick he decided to judge the EU’ssuccess, or failure, in this field. To conceive of the EU as a supranational actor allowsthe author to focus his analysis on the EU level only. Yet in practice, the field ofpolicing is more fluid and less clearly divided into hierarchical layers and, at its best,the EU is one actor among others in it. This aspect is acknowledged in the book at afew points – for example, when the importance of counter-terrorism efforts at thenational and local levels is emphasized (such as on pp. 75–6) and when the authormaintains that many problems stem from the lack of implementation of EU legisla-tion and instruments (for example, p. 135) at the national level. However, it wouldhave enriched the book to discuss in more detail how far one can really blame the EUfor these shortcomings.

CLAUDIA HILLEBRANDAberystwyth University

Transnational Networks in Regional Integration: Governing Europe, 1945–83,edited by W. Kaiser, B. Leucht and M. Gehler (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan,2010, ISBN 9780230241695); xi + 257pp., £57.50 hb.

The standard view in political science is that European networks and governance arerelatively new phenomena, which emerged in the 1970s in response to the weakeningof the state. This volume challenges our conventional understanding by examiningnetworks during the formative period of European integration (1945–83) from anhistorical perspective. The authors argue that transnational political networks inEuropean integration governance are much older and multifaceted. The various stateand non-state actors within these networks played a significant role in fosteringco-operation and establishing links, directly or indirectly influencing agenda-setting,problem-solving and decision-making aspects of politics and policy.

1366 BOOK REVIEWS


This volume includes nine contributions covering a wide array of topics, includ-ing economic, agricultural, environmental and foreign policy areas, engaging actorssuch as business, legal and political networks on multiple, interconnected levels –supranational, regional and national. Drawing on a mixture of archival sources,interviews and public documents, the case studies primarily highlight the formation,structure and functions of the networks. Most of the chapters seek to describe the roleof networks in various policy areas, while a few chapters attempt to specify how orwhy networks were able to exert influence on politics or policy. This volume wouldhave been stronger if more chapters had offered explanations for how and whynetworks impacted regional integration in the given policy areas.

Despite the volume’s ability to cover a wide range of topics in such a relativelyshort number of pages, the work would have benefited from further developing thelink between entrepreneurs and networks. While the introductory chapter developsthe concept of ‘political networks’, which may be comprised of state and non-stategroups, it fails to mention the role that individual entrepreneurs could play in thesegroups and networks. The case studies, in contrast, focus upon individuals, some-times reading as an overwhelming participant roster or list of key people. Questionssurrounding the relationship between individual actors, and actor networks, make itdifficult to distinguish between the two, and thus to trace the avenues of influence.

Overall, the contributions to this volume illustrate that networks have existedsince the early days of European integration and reveal the institutional complexities,in terms of actors and layers of governance, that continue to characterize the EUtoday. Moreover, the editors’ concluding call to use this work as a basis for greatercross-disciplinary co-operation between historians and political scientists is wel-comed. In particular, the editors suggest three areas for co-operation: change overtime (possibility of cycles and patterns of opening and closure), the role of suprana-tional institutions and the impact of networks on policy.

CARRIE HUMPHREYSUniversity of Utah

European Union Foreign Policy: From Effectiveness to Functionality, byChristopher J. Bickerton (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, ISBN 978-0230282292); xii + 173pp., £55.00 hb.

The nature, scope or role of foreign policy in the European Union has been the focusof many scholarly debates throughout the years. Most have highlighted gaps betweenthe Union’s ambitious foreign policy expectations or rhetoric and its underdevelopedcapabilities, or rather, the poor policy outcomes it ends up delivering. ChristopherBickerton proposes a shift from the focus on the lack of effectiveness to the func-tionality of the EU’s foreign policy. Analysed through the simple concept of ‘func-tionality’ – here referring solely to internal functioning – foreign policy becomes avehicle for furthering European integration. This makes it no different than otherpolicy areas, where the internal logic of their evolution has been marked by the ideasof the European project. While such a view recalls the enthusiasm with whichfunctionalists praised ‘spillover’ effects, it validates and legitimizes the lack of

BOOK REVIEWS 1367


effectiveness in EU foreign policy, conceiving it as resulting from the interaction ofthe Union’s political realities and its ontology.

The great interest of the book lies in the fact that it brings the foreign policy of theEU down to earth, from being an end in itself to acting as a means for advancingEuropean integration. From such a perspective, it carries out three main functions.First, it acts as a means for achieving intergovernmental co-operation and limiting theengagement of big Member States like France and Germany in international politics.Second, foreign policy outputs are epiphenomenal to the inter-institutional turf wars,and preserve the balance of power within them. The third function contributesthrough self-reflection on the ontology of the EU and its construction as a politicalactor. Additionally, the foreign policy of the EU can be viewed as having the potentialto mitigate its lack of democratic legitimacy.

The focus on ontology has given birth to one of the most popular ideas in the lastten years of EU scholarship: the concept of ‘normative power’. Seen through thislens, the Union becomes a ‘force for good’ that externally promotes a series ofuniversal norms in order to assure global peace and prosperity. Bickerton insightfullyhighlights that this argument has yet to provide an account for the provenance of theEU’s norms, and why they should be conceived as universal. According to him, onlyby attaining internal democratic legitimacy can the norms of the EU gain universalstatus. But as the European project as a whole seems to be detached from the people,there is little hope that the Union’s foreign policy can actually be built on democraticlegitimacy, or solve its broader democratic malaise. Although pessimistic at firstglance, the book presents a sophisticated picture of the constructive functions thatforeign policy plays in the advancement of European integration.

CRISTIAN NITOIULoughborough University

European Stories: Intellectual Debates on Europe in National Contexts, editedby J. Lacroix and K. Nicolaïdis (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, ISBN9780199594627); xx + 409pp., £60.00 pb.

This volume presents very interesting surveys of national debates on the EuropeanUnion, tracing how public intellectuals in Europe’s national arenas have debatedthe EU project in the post-war period. After three broad chapters that discuss intel-lectuals and Europe, including a commentary by the political theorist MichaelFreeden, 12 chapters consider debates in EU ‘founders’ countries (Germany, France,Italy), ‘joiners’ (Britain, Ireland, Greece, Spain), ‘returners’ (Poland, Romania, theCzech Republic) and ‘outliers’ (Norway, Turkey). Prior to the editors’ conclusion, achapter by sociologist Juan Diez Medrano discusses similarities across nationaldebates.

Though the authors are all academics, the volume is best read not as an academicstudy of academics, but as an intellectual discussion of intellectuals. This is nota criticism: the editors wisely choose not to encumber public debates with ties tothe academic literature on the EU, and also to avoid much discussion of how totheorize ‘intellectuals’ or the relationship between intellectuals and politics. As the

1368 BOOK REVIEWS


introduction states (p. 2; emphases in original): ‘Our objective is to compare andcontrast intellectual debates on Europe rather than the role of intellectuals in Europe’.The book is at its strongest when it conveys quite directly how prominent figures ineach country have written about the EU and how their views relate to their nationalcontexts, as in the British chapter by Georgios Varouxakis or the Turkish chapter byNora Fisher Onar and Ahmet Evin. The book is at its weakest when it strays from thisfocus. As Michael Freeden notes in his commentary, the chapters sometimes wanderaway from broad public intellectuals to those who address specialized elite ‘publics’or who are simply academics writing for academics.

The degree of ‘publicness’ of these intellectuals is crucial to the argument that theeditors wish to make as quasi-public intellectuals themselves. They conclude that thecontestation of the EU in each country and the different debates across countries arean optimistic sign for democracy: ‘In the end, we believe that democratic life in theEU can only be enhanced by such a great variety of diverging and competing storiesabout Europe as a whole, and about its current institutional translation through theEU’ (p. 336). To the extent that these debates involve intellectuals with large publicaudiences, such optimism may be plausible. But at the points where a book on publicintellectuals turns up only academics interested in the EU, this glimmer of a Europeanpublic sphere (or even of several spheres that address the EU) seems to fade.

CRAIG PARSONSUniversity of Oregon

The Process of Politics in Europe: The Rise of European Elites and SupranationalInstitutions, by K. Seidel (London: Tauris Academic Studies, 2010, ISBN9781848853263); xvi + 245pp., £56.50 hb.

This work claims to be the first study of a ‘new race of man’: the European civilservants who served and directed the High Authority of the European Coal and SteelCommunity (ECSC) and the Commission of the European Economic Community(EEC). The book centres on the life of the High Authority (1952–58) under JeanMonnet, and the Commission, with a focus on the Presidency of Walter Hallstein(1958–67).

Blazing a new path of historical research is always a difficult task, and researchingthe work of European civil servants, with its current political resonance and relativelyrecent vintage, is fraught with more than the usual number of stumbling blocks. Thiswork attempts to trace the creation of the European Civil Service and the socializationof European civil servants to answer the question of how ‘Europeanized’ these civilservants became. The work uses a wonderful mix of archival sources and eyewitnessinterviews with former European civil servants in order to show how they were made.

The strength of the work is in its reflection of how important the first structure isto a bureaucracy, and how wide a field of action existed for the first administrators ofthe European project. The author demonstrates that Jean Monnet’s beliefs in ‘supra-nationality’ filtered down to the structure and staffing of the High Authority, and howhis personal style (working long hours, and calling frequent, late-night meetings withhis staff) affected his officials and the recruitment of new staff. Walter Hallstein,

BOOK REVIEWS 1369


according to the author, preferred a more ‘federalist’ style for his Commission, withstaffing and organization geared towards mimicking the Member State bureaucraciesas much as possible in order to enhance the attractiveness of working for the Com-mission and to encourage the Member States to view the Commission as the futureexecutive of a united Europe.

The weakness of the work comes in the attempt to judge ‘Europeanization’ of theEuropean civil servants, which the author means as the socialization of these civilservants and internalization of European norms. Though the book does a wonderfuljob of tabulating the biographical backgrounds of the new European civil servants(for example, with facts about what each department head studied at university orworked as in their earlier careers), the information in the book does not adequatelyestablish or prove how the Europeanization process worked for the Civil Service asa class. Such a task may be impossible to do, but the case made in the work is morecircumstantial than causative.

This is a good first step in a new avenue of research and theorizing for historiansand social scientists, and begins a conversation that other scholars should soon join.

ADAM TRUSNERUniversity of Virginia

1370 BOOK REVIEWS


european union foreign policy: from effectiveness to functionality – by christopher j. bickerton

Documents