How Unified Is the European Union?: European Integration Between Visions and Popular Legitimacy. Este artículo no está disponible.How Unified Is the European Union?: European Integration Between Visions and Popular Legitimacy

World politics has been surprised recently by two sudden developments. The first took place around the beginning of 2007, when the question of global warming rose abruptly to the top of the agenda, after having been a factor in the background. The second occurred in the autumn of 2008, when the rules for a global economy started inspiring great anxiety, after having been regarded as a source of stability. These two shifts took place independently, but their consequences will require common management. The regulatory structure underlying the world's economic, legal, and political systems needs to be revised. This presents the EU with the greatest challenge it has ever faced. The point is that this global challenge comes on top of the pr- lems already posed by markets, welfare states, security, energy, and movements of population. The additional challenge is furthermore of such a kind that a deeper discussion of the very structure of the Union is difficult to avoid.

The European project has come a long way in establishing peace, creating a common market, and expanding its borders. At the same time, diminishing popular legitimacy has spurred talk about a European Union in crisis. How far has the EU really come in fulfilling its grand visions? Is the project barely half-way? Or could we say with some confidence that European integration is solidified and will continue to get stronger? This book brings together contributors from economics, political science and law to offer different perspectives on this larger issue. The questions asked include: How far has the European Union come in its creation of a Common Foreign and Security Policy? What will happen to the state monopolies? Is there a common strategy at the European level for integrating immigrants? To what extent do national political parties cooperate with the Europarties? By investigating these and similar issues the book contributes to an assessment of how successful European integration has been to date.