Harmonizing Europe: Nation-States Within the Common Market (Suny Series in Global Politics) - Softcover

Duina, Francesco G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0791441784 ISBN 13: 9780791441787

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 1999

Synopsis

Harmonizing Europe analyzes factors that both drive and impede the establishment of transnational markets, such as the European Union-EU, NAFTA or MERCOSUR. The author argues that the fit between domestic institutions (namely, the legal and administrative legacies of nation states, and the organization of interest groups) and the rules and regulations of transnational markets determines the degree to which transnational markets find their way into member states and become reality. By turning to the European Union and two of its directives (equal pay and air pollution), Duina explores the driving forces behind the implementation of such directives, the ability of institutional theory to explain political and social events, and the determining factors in the fate of environmental and gender policies in transnational markets.

About this title

Review:

"The book takes on an important question in EU politics. Many, if not most, studies on the EU 'end' with the adoption of a particular agreement at the level of the Community, and fail to trace the legislative record of implementation to the level of member states. This book looks in detail at two specific directives and chronicles the difficult path to implementation. It thus gives a greater feel for just how hard it is to create a single market in Europe, given all the vested interests that are threatened by that project." -- Steven Weber, University of California, Berkeley

"The straightforward empirical testing of these hypotheses and the conclusions are important achievements of empirical analytic work in the realm of implementation of EU directives. This is a stimulating example of very good normal science." -- Michael Zuern, University of Bremen

From the Author:

About this Book
I grew up in Italy until I was fourteen. Then, my family and I moved to the United States. One of my first observations about my new homeland concerned the incredible power of its economic base. "Business," I thought, "rules this land; most of everything else is built upon or around it." It took me several years to realize that in fact the awesome economic base of the United States was itself a reflection or a derivative of a basic ideology of freedom. But this realization did not detract from the accuracy of my first observation: it only added to it.

European society, I feel, has been historically less dependent on the economy, when it has come to the production of culture, art, thought, family life, and other social entities. That, however, is changing. The creation of a common market has required the creation of new, economically driven, ideas and values, embodied in the form of Union law. The future European culture will reflect those new ideas and values. It, too, will speak on behalf of a strong economic base.

But the transformation will not be smooth nor complete. The implementation of Union law by member states has been incomplete, and thus so has been the incorporation of common values. Nations have at times yielded and at times accepted supranational concepts. In light of such events, this book has one major objective. It intends to unveil the factors that have faciliated or opposed the incorporation of EU law in the member states.

Because the book examines closely, for empirical purposes, the fate of two European directives on pay equality and air pollution, the book might prove interesting to people curious about such social issues. Special focus is given to their implementation in France, Italy, and the UK (equal pay), and Italy, the UK, and Spain (air pollution).

About this edition

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0791441784
• ISBN 13: 9780791441787
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 198