The European Union: A Citizen’s Guide (Pelican Books)

Product Description

The essential Pelican introduction to the European Union—its history, its politics, and its role today. For most of us today, “Europe” refers to the European Union. At the center of a seemingly never-ending crisis, the EU remains a black box, closed to public understanding. Is it a state? An empire? Is Europe ruled by Germany or by European bureaucrats? Does a single European economy exist after all these years of economic integration? And should the EU have been awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2012? Critics tell us the EU undermines democracy. Are they right? In this provocative volume, political scientist Chris Bickerton provides an answer to all these key questions and more at a time when understanding what the EU is and what it does is more important than ever before.

Review

The European Union: A Citizen’s Guide by Chris Bickerton is a good place to find out how Europe works: the European council, the council of Europe and the Byzantine committee structure that operates in virtual secrecy… My advice is this. Use Bickerton… to learn how the EU works… And then, whatever Cameron says, you can make up your own mind about the future–Roland White, Sunday Times
An unlikely bestseller–
Daily Telegraph
A lucid, helpful guide to the EU’s structures and operating methods–Tony Barber, Financial Times
An indispensable book for these times–
Big Issue
Provocative–
Economist
A timely account of the EU’s byzantine bureaucratic procedures and political rules–
The Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

Chris Bickerton is a University Lecturer in politics at the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge, and a Fellow in politics at Queens’ College, Cambridge. He has previously taught at Oxford, University of Amsterdam, and Sciences Po in Paris. His books include
European Integration, and he writes frequently for the international media. He has been writing regularly for
Le Monde Diplomatique since 2006.