Desmond Dinan

George Mason University | GMU · Department of Public and International Affairs

The European Union – including its precursors, the European Communities – has had many ups and downs since the beginning of institutionalized integration, in the 1950s. Yet the state of the EU today seems exceptionally grave. Debates about the future of European integration are as old as the EU itself. They are particularly prevalent at times of pe...

In November 2009, the European Council elected Herman Van Rompuy its first standing President, under the terms of the newly-implemented Lisbon Treaty. Using the analytical framework developed by Ingeborg Tömmel to assess the performance of three Commission presidents, this contribution examines Van Rompuy’s leadership in the European Council during...

This article examines the evolution of the European Council in the post-Lisbon period. Having a standing president is a major innovation: the European Council is no longer subject to national grandstanding, occasional weak leadership and uneven presidential performance. The new arrangement provides continuity and consistency. Herman Van Rompuy beca...

Unfinished business, the need to tie up loose ends, and policy spillover explain to some extent EU treaty reform in the post-Maastricht period. Important also are the challenge of democratic legitimacy and the unprecedented nature of Central and Eastern European enlargement. Yet these developments shaped the agenda, negotiation, and outcome of the...

Though best known for its coverage of key policy areas, the Maastricht Treaty also introduced important institutional reforms. Building on the Single European Act, these pertained mainly to strengthening the legislative role of the European Parliament and extending the scope of qualified majority voting to more policy areas. Treaty-based institutio...

The Single European Act (SEA) is an unassuming name for a far-reaching reform of the Rome Treaty, a reform that helped revitalise political and economic integration in the late 1980s and that paved the way for the launch of the European Union in 1993. Yet when national leaders concluded the SEA at a summit in Luxembourg in December 1985, the title...

Revisión del pasado, presente y futuro del proyecto de integración europea: desde su concepción como Comunidad Económica en los años cincuenta, hasta la formación de la Unión Europea, en los noventa. Se estudian las instituciones que han estado involucradas en el proceso de integración, así como las políticas internacionales (agrícolas, comerciales...

Customs Union or Free Trade Area?The Gaullist ChallengeThe Spirit of The HagueSetbacksThe Acceleration of IntegrationConclusion NotesBibliographyFurther Reading

[Introduction by Virginie Guiraudon, Forum Editor]. In June 2000, the Convention on the Future of Europe delivered its project for a draft Constitution to the European Council as a basis for negotiations during the 2003-2004 Intergovernmental Conference. Although it is too early to tell how different the final outcome will be from the Convention dr...

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Editor's note: This series ran concurrently with the 2000 IGC and concluded with the signing of a new Treaty at the Nice European Council in December 2000. All four parts are presented together here: originally, the parts appeared in the ECSA Review 13: 2,3,4, and 14: 1.

This book focuses on developments in the European integration process and, more especially, developments in the European Union (EU). The chapters which follow cover a wide variety of topics and issues. The purpose of this first chapter is to lay a foundation for these following chapters by outlining key underlying questions.

This chapter explores the origin, preparation, negotiation and conclusion of the Amsterdam Treaty in 1997, the most recent instance of treaty change in the European Union (EU). Treaty changes are major events in the EU, involving a complicated and protracted interplay among member states, institutions, issues, interests and individuals. The Amsterd...

Drawing on themes that have emerged in the book, this chapter examines how the EU is evolving and how it is likely to develop in the years ahead. The examination is divided into four sections: institutions and governance, politics and policies, involvement of the citizenry, and the nature of the EU polity.

Developments in the European Union brings together specially-commissioned chapters by leading authorities, rigorously edited into an accessible student text to provide an up-to-date introduction to the EU after ratification of the Amsterdam Treaty. The book ranges broadly over policy areas and provides extensive coverage of the economic, social and...

Iceland is a member of the European Free Trade Association and the European Economic Area, through which it is closely associated with the EU. Although EU accession is discussed in Icelandic political circles, widespread concern about the possible impact of the EU?s common fisheries policy on Iceland?s lucrative fisheries industry makes it unlikely...

The European Community underwent a remarkable transformation in the mid-1980s. The Single Market Program (1992) became synonymous with a revitalized Community moving rapidly toward greater political and economic integration. The end of the Cold War, to which the Single Market Program undoubtedly contributed, posed enormous internal and external cha...