This open access book provides the first ever authoritative collection of scholarly insights, based upon original research, into the political groups of the EP tackling the fundamental changes since the Lisbon Treaty and the upsurge of radical right parties. It analyses political groups and their importance from multiple perspectives critically assessing their role and significance in EU politics. Each chapter is authored by leading scholars in the field, working on key topics in relation to political groups: political group formation and function, their role in parliamentary and EU policy-making, the way that Eurosceptic MEPs influence (or not) the Parliament, and the nature and form of interactions with external actors. In doing so, each chapter opens hitherto unexplored ‘black boxes’ in the political work of the EP, such as the internal practices of, and power relations within the political groups, and informal arenas of intra-group decision-making.

Die Studie beschreibt die institutionelle, organisatorische und politische Entwicklung der EVP-Fraktion im Europäischen Parlament und konzentriert sich dabei auf die Periode nach den ersten Direktwahlen im Jahr 1979. Auf diese Weise beleuchtet das Buch das Funktionieren der Parlamentsfraktionen und erweitert unser Wissen über ihre Rolle in der europäischen Integration und im politischen System der EU. Basierend auf dem konzeptionellen Rahmen verschiedener Disziplinen - Geschichte, Politikwissenschaft, Europastudien, politische Soziologie - ist das Buch das Ergebnis eines Forschungsprojekts, an dem Wissenschaftler mit unterschiedlichem akademischen Hintergrund und aus verschiedenen EU-Ländern beteiligt waren.

With the European Parliament comprising politicians from many different countries, cultures, languages, national parties and institutional backgrounds, one might expect politics in the Parliament to be highly-fragmented and unpredictable. By studying more than 12,000 recorded votes between 1979 and 2004 this 2007 book establishes that the opposite is in fact true: transnational parties in the European Parliament are highly cohesive and the classic 'left-right' dimension dominates voting behaviour. Furthermore, the cohesion of parties in the European Parliament has increased as the powers of the Parliament have increased. The authors suggest that the main reason for these developments is that like-minded MEPs have incentives to form stable transnational party organizations and to use these organizations to compete over European Union policies. They suggest that this is a positive development for the future of democratic accountability in the European Union.

With an unparalleled amount of empirical material, this is the most comprehensive introduction to comparative politics written by the leading experts in the field

This title was first published in 2000: This book investigates the European Parliament’s stance vis-a-vis the 1990-1991 Gulf and 1991-1992 Yugoslav crises. In unveiling the parliamentary multi-faceted view of these events, reference has been made to the positions taken by constituent political groups and their voting behaviour. In particular, the following questions have been addressed: has the European Parliament sought to define and shape a common foreign policy with respect to the above crises? What specific functions have the European Parliament political groups performed? Have political groups succeeded in achieving an internal cohesion? Has the European Parliament overcome divisions among its members through the formation of party coalitions? despite the considerable flow of published material on external relations of the European Union and the European Parliament, virtually no study has explored in-depth the links between these two areas. The purpose of this book is to fill the gap in the existing literature, breaking new ground by combining a qualitative and qualitative analysis of parliamentary behaviour with foreign policy.

This book examines the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in the context of internal functions performed with regard to the European Union (EU) political system and its key actors. It argues that the ENP has been formulated not only in reaction to external challenges and threats, but also in response to EU internal legitimacy needs at systemic, institutional and actor level. Looking beyond governance approaches and the power of norms, this book follows a sociological approach to the politics of legitimation. Using Bourdieu's field theory, it bridges the rationalist-constructivist divide inherent in much of ENP scholarship. While analyzing articulations of EU institutions in terms of narrative production, reproduction and reconstruction, it sheds valuable light on where the conflicting goals, ambiguity and incoherence stem from. By highlighting Developing Nations' responses and usages of ENP narratives for domestic and international legitimacy-seeking, the book calls for a more outside-in perspective on EU foreign policy. With the European integration project being increasingly contested, both internally and externally, this book provides a timely focus on the topic of legitimation and delegitimation dynamics with regard to EU foreign policy. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of European integration and EU foreign policy, and, more broadly, EU Studies and International Relations.

Informed by and against the backdrop of the 2019 European Parliament (EP) elections, this innovative book provides a critical assessment of where Europe stands in terms of the quest to achieve democratic legitimacy. Since the 2014 EP elections, the European Union (EU) has experienced multiple crises, which arguably have undermined its legitimacy. The 2019 EP elections were hence seen as a crucial moment in the EU’s attempts to show resilience and regain trust. Using political science and legal frames of analysis, Assessing the 2019 European Parliament Elections provides an understanding and assessment of the current politico-legal framework, and its impact on European elections. Furthermore, using original data, it provides a timely examination of public opinion issue priorities and voting behaviour at the 2019 EP elections in eight countries. Given the critical conjuncture that the 2019 EP elections represent, this volume provides a key contribution to understanding both the dynamics surrounding the elections, as well as voters’ responses, and informs debates on European politics, for example, second-order elections, democratic legitimacy and political representation. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of EU politics, public administration, European studies, European law, and sociology, along with practitioners in politics, journalism, and policy analysis.