This chapter analyzes the EU-driven process of de-politicization (good governance reforms) which has accompanied the Europeanization of South Eastern Europe. It is argued that rather than to improve governance and the functionality of the state, good governance reforms have resulted in the fragmentation of the classical constitutional state (and governance). The Europeanized and fragmented state did not have the strength to rebuild coherence through a national counter-process of unity formation (as in Poland or Hungary). Instead, countries from SEE have tried to overcome fragmentation through a revival of informality (i.e. informal hidden structures based on clientelistic, secret service, organized crime and veteran/military networks). Overall, the imposed good governance agenda of neutralization, depoliticization and liberalization has fragmented and weakened the nation state and reinforced informal governance and the deep state.

The Oxford Handbook of the European Union brings together numerous acknowledged specialists in their field to provide a comprehensive and clear assessment of the nature, evolution, workings, and impact of European integration.

An ambitious volume which asks why hopes are fading for a single European identity, despite decades of European integration.

This volume argues that the crisis of the European Union is not merely a fiscal crisis but reveals and amplifies deeper flaws in the structure of the EU itself. It is a multidimensional crisis of the economic, legal and political cornerstones of European integration and marks the end of the technocratic mode of integration which has been dominant since the 1950s. The EU has a weak political and administrative centre, relies excessively on governance by law, is challenged by increasing heterogeneity and displays increasingly interlocked levels of government. During the crisis, it has become more and more asymmetrical and has intervened massively in domestic economic and legal systems. A team of economists, lawyers, philosophers and political scientists analyse these deeper dimensions of the European crisis from a broader theoretical perspective with a view towards contributing to a better understanding and shaping the trajectory of the EU.

This book examines the emergence of (and limitations to) a common European public sphere and the advantages and problems surrounding this development.