Book Review: Political Theory: Key Controversies in European Integration

Among the fourteen diverse questions addressed in the book are: How efficient is the EU? Did the Lisbon Treaty make it more supranational? How much power do judges have in EU politics? Does the EU suffer from a democratic deficit? Is a common European identity arising among EU citizens? What about the future of the euro and EU financial regulation? How successful are EU agricultural and cohesion policies? How influential are lobbyists in EU foreign economic policies? And is the EU a normative power or a materi- alist one?

Because of strict word limits, the authors go straight to the point and make clear arguments. They are also always engaging, critical and deliberately pro- vocative. A weakness of the book is its very short concluding chapter. Andreas Dür notes in the final chapter that ‘taking a position on one debate seems to a large extent to determine which position one takes on another debate’ (p. 234), but there is no clear explanation why this is the case. In fact, he only hints that the long-lasting supranationalist-intergovern- mentalist debate may inspire commentators’ position- ing on other issues. The conclusion would have been more interesting had the editors elaborated on this point.

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