This incisive book provides key interdisciplinary perspectives on the current challenges faced by EU policymakers in framing and implementing a coherent European industrial policy, employing specific case studies from the digital, automotive, steel and defence industries as well as concrete examples of EU policies.

The main objective of this book has been to carry out research into the definition of industrial policy and its goals; to evaluate previously-introduced policies and instruments; and to identify the future challenges for and features of a modern EU industrial policy. A modern industrial policy is seen as a non-traditional policy towards the industrial sector, based not necessarily on only the elimination of market failures (within the sectoral and/or horizontal approaches), but rather on the expanding the scope of industrial economic activities within the framework of both the pre- and post-fabrication stages. The book targets three market segments: academics; policy and decision-makers at the EU, national and regional level, as well as business practitioners. It includes a wide-ranging analysis of different spheres of industrial policies conducted within the European Union, making it of interest to an international audience. Each chapter also offers detailed and valuable comments, as well as conclusions that can be generally applied, ensuring the book’s universality. The book presents the results of a research project conducted in the Collegium of World Economy at the Warsaw School of Economics.

Industrial policy is a good example of the growing economic and political interdependency between Europe and the United States. The contributors to this volume, which compiles the proceedings of the seventh conference sponsored by the Institute for the Comparative Study of Public Policy, examine the ways in which national, and supranational in the case of the European Community, industrial policies are implemented. It is thought that diversity within the country is the primary reason why the United States does not have a comprehensive national policy. There is a consensus among the authors that the U.S. economy is less subject or amenable to central government planning than the economies of Europe. In Europe, there is more interest in coordinating industrial policy throughout the European Community, but here too the failure to adopt a comprehensive policy reveals the enormous diversity and parochialism that conflict with supranational goals. The contributors conclude that while a centrally planned and implemented industrial policy may be desirable, we do not have the means to achieve it. Acknowledging the major industrial and trade problems facing the United States and Western Europe, the authors feel that it is not clear whether these problems can be resolved by government intervention.

After years of near ‘disrepute’ in official circles, Industrial Policy has made something of a comeback over the last few years and is now very much back on the agenda at national and EU levels, driven by concerns over globalisation, deindustrialisation, unemployment and perceived poor growth in the EU. Simultaneously, the European Commission’s Fourth Report on Economic and Social Cohesion has kicked off the debate over challenges to cohesion, the shape of EU Cohesion policy beyond 2013, and how resources should be managed. This debate will find added momentum with the imminent ‘mid-term’ review being launched by the Commission. Discussions over the success or not of the Lisbon Agenda, on-going debates over cluster policies, and recent developments in policy evaluation have also contributed to a burgeoning academic literature over the last eighteen months. This edited volume is especially pertinent given such developments and pulls together a diverse range of contributions from leading authorities in the field to add to these debates and to illustrate connections between them. This book was published as a special issue of Policy Studies.