| Review of: | The EU and Territorial Politics within Member States: Conflict or Co-operation? edited by A.K. Bourne |
|---|---|
| Reviewed By: | John Gaffney |
| Reviewed in: | Journal of Common Market Studies |
| Date accepted online: | 10/04/2008 |
| Published in print: | Volume 45, Issue 05, Pages 1159-1167 |
Book Reviews
This is a very interesting book that adds to the growing literature on regionalism. The volume takes a slightly different perspective to look in detail at the myriad actions, interactions (and non-actions) in the Europeanization of the politics of 'territorial entities' (p. 2). The editor is quite relaxed about the many and contested terms in this area in order to further rather than restrict discussion. Her introduction looks at regional politics both in theory and practice and makes the interesting point - addressed in several of the case studies - that regional politics throws into relief the mediated and discursive nature of politics generally; and that the question of national sovereignty is not only being challenged but can be seen through analysis of EU politics as an imagined construct, and one that is undergoing significant shifts. Bourne points out (and returns to this in her own case study) that it is not only sovereignty but identity and conflict itself that are fashioned by this new political process. A further interesting finding, here and in most of the case studies, is how local political cultures significantly alter the overall politics of the EU. The essential research question of the book is to discover whether EU politics and policy increases or diminishes conflict within regions and between regions and nation states.
There are eight main case study chapters, some comparative, and they treat a series of policy or institutional issues in a range of regions and states, including Germany, the UK, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Belgium and Cyprus. Each chapter is informative. The chapter on Belgium (agricultural policy) demonstrates to the non-specialist the startling complexity of its politics; the chapter on intra-state relations (UK and Germany), how important political culture is in the overall process; the chapter on Catalonia, how the EU heightens conflictual relations; the chapter on the Basque country, Northern Ireland, and Cyprus, how patchy the EU has been in conflict resolution; the chapter on Northern Ireland as a region, how quite new perceptions and perspectives are emerging; the chapter on the Irish Republic's border with Northern Ireland, how the EU has altered the political opportunity structure; the chapter on post-devolution UK, how increasing regional identity has not undermined state legitimacy; and the chapter on the Northern League, how internal politics can create a 180-degree turn in attitudes to the EU, and here, unusually, from a pro- to an anti-EU stance. The book as a whole demonstrates how complex - and interesting - are the interactions of regional, state and EU politics. The abstracts are helpful (although the shortest chapter has the longest abstract); there is an overemphasis - four of the chapters - on Northern Ireland as a case study; and the book went to press with quite a few typos. Nevertheless, an excellent and informative book.