European Integration and Political Conflict

Contemporary Review, August, 2004

European Integration and Political Conflict. Gary Marks and Marco R. Steenbergen, editors. Cambridge University Press. [pounds sterling]45.00 (US$75.00) xiv 280 pages. ISBN 0-521-53505-0. The eleven papers in this collection began life as contributions to a series of three workshops at the University of North Carolina's Center for European Studies between 1998 and 2000.

The aim was to examine how is 'political contestation at the European level connected to that in domestic arenas'. The collection also asks 'how is conflict over European integration structured'. The papers are preceded by an Introduction from both editors and are then divided into three parts or perspectives. The first, citizens, has four essays at the variety of attitudes, the potential for European questions to play a role in national elections, general attitudes concerning the role of the E.U. in making policy and the influence of economic arguments on the politics of integration. The second part, dealing with political parties, has a second group of four essays which look at election manifestos for Euro-elections between 1979 and 1999, the role of traditional left-right divisions in elections, the role of the European parliament and the importance of continued integration as an issue in party politics. The final section, based on 'groups' has two papers which look at the future effect of interest groups and of street demonstrations on E.U. politics. The third and final paper is a conclusion by Prof. Marks.