Eger, Thomas; Schäfer, Hans-Bernd --- "Introduction" [2012] ELECD 665; in Eger, Thomas; Schäfer, Hans-Bernd (eds), "Research Handbook on the Economics of European Union Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Research Handbook on the Economics of European Union Law

Editor(s): Eger, Thomas; Schäfer, Hans-Bernd

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849801003

Section Title: Introduction

Author(s): Eger, Thomas; Schäfer, Hans-Bernd

Number of pages: 8

Extract:

Introduction
Thomas Eger and Hans-Bernd Schäfer


This book provides the reader with an economic analysis of the most important ele-
ments of EU law and the mechanisms of decisions within the EU. All the authors are
well-known scholars of this discipline and have written their chapters especially for this
volume. The authors presented a first draft of their chapters at a manuscript conference
in Hamburg and improved their drafts on the basis of invited and prepared comments
and the general discussion.
The process of European integration is, on the one hand, a "truly unique endeavor.
Nowhere else in the world has a group of countries come to be so integrated by peaceful
means" (Baldwin and Wyplosz 2004, XXI). On the other hand, the actual architecture
of the European Union has evolved as a compromise between conflicting philosophies
of integration. First of all, there has been a conflict between intergovernmentalists, who
look at European integration as an increased coordination and cooperation between
sovereign governments, and federalists, who imagine the United States of Europe as a
true political federation, characterized by powerful supranational institutions. However,
there is another, much more important, conflict in the views on European integration:
"the dirigiste economic management style of France and the free market, laissez faire style
of the United Kingdom" (Alesina and Giavazzi 2006, 125).
The history of European integration after World War II comprises a multitude of
facets and can be described in a nutshell as follows (Eichengreen 2007; Nello 2009,
Chapters ...