Understanding EU Policy Making

EU policy shapes all areas of our lives -- from our money, to our food, to our welfare. Yet we know little about how EU decisions are made, and who benefits from them. This book is a critical guide to the policies of the EU. Raj Chari and Sylvia Kritzinger argue that there is an agenda that underlies EU policy making. Some policies -- those that aim to create a competitive economy -- are prioritized, while others are effectively ignored. Setting the EU in a proper economic and theoretical context, the authors provide a chapter-by-chapter analysis of each of the EU's major policy areas. Arguing that traditional accounts of EU integration are inadequate, the authors develop an innovative new perspective. Written with clarity and precision, this book is ideal for students of the EU and anyone looking for an incisive critique of the role of corporate capital in the development of EU policy. EU policies and policy-making have taken on an increasing significance as a consequence of the deepened integration process over the last 20 years. The most important EU policies include competition, single market, economic and monetary, agricultural, social, environmental, immigration and common foreign and security policies. This book asks what these policies are about, what actors have shaped them, and what their consequences are in terms of affecting citizens' lives, as well as constraining domestic policy-makers. These are issues of great interest to those seeking to better understand the objectives, development and impact of collective decisions made at the new level of European governance. Raj Chari and Sylvia Kritzinger argue that the policies are highly influenced by corporations, and aimed to create a competitive and efficient market wherein capital is given priority. In contrast to the policies outlined above, one can identify a set of 'second order' policies which do not form a key part of the EU policy-making agenda and which domestic leaders often effectively ignore. These include social, environmental, structural, agricultural, immigration and common defence policies. The book focuses on the role of corporate capital in the development of EU policies and on the goals of supranational and domestic political actors. It will be a key text for the teaching of EU politics at both upper undergraduate and post-graduate levels.