Iain McLean
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198295297
- eISBN:
- 9780191599873
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198295294.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
A case study of the rhetoric and heresthetics of Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, and Gordon Brown. It examines Thatcher's slogans: the free economy, where she succeeded, and the strong state, where ...
More
A case study of the rhetoric and heresthetics of Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, and Gordon Brown. It examines Thatcher's slogans: the free economy, where she succeeded, and the strong state, where she failed. The first changed the universe of political debate; the second destroyed the Conservative Party, as it split into its Europhile and Eurosceptical wings. The most successful heresthetic since 1997 has been Brown's grant of central bank independence within days of taking office.Less
A case study of the rhetoric and heresthetics of Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, and Gordon Brown. It examines Thatcher's slogans: the free economy, where she succeeded, and the strong state, where she failed. The first changed the universe of political debate; the second destroyed the Conservative Party, as it split into its Europhile and Eurosceptical wings. The most successful heresthetic since 1997 has been Brown's grant of central bank independence within days of taking office.
Kenneth Dyson and Kevin Featherstone
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198296386
- eISBN:
- 9780191599125
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019829638X.003.0014
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union
Few issues have caused as much domestic turbulence for so long in recent decades as those associated with Britain's role in the European integration process. EMU challenged traditional concerns of ...
More
Few issues have caused as much domestic turbulence for so long in recent decades as those associated with Britain's role in the European integration process. EMU challenged traditional concerns of British policy on Europe: nationhood, sovereignty, and gradualism. It also conflicted with core Thatcherite policy beliefs about the sensitivity of monetary policy to market conditions. EMU appeared on the agenda as the Conservative Government wrestled with the question of ERM entry, and a cleavage appeared between ‘Europhiles’ and ‘Eurosceptics’. Mrs Thatcher was intent on asserting a more strident leadership on ‘Europe’, whilst her Chancellor was acting as a policy entrepreneur. Her government was thus ill‐prepared strategically for the EMU negotiations. After the surprise of the Delors Committee outcome, the Whitehall machine established tight policy coordination. Given the political context, however, it remained vulnerable to a narrowness of vision.Less
Few issues have caused as much domestic turbulence for so long in recent decades as those associated with Britain's role in the European integration process. EMU challenged traditional concerns of British policy on Europe: nationhood, sovereignty, and gradualism. It also conflicted with core Thatcherite policy beliefs about the sensitivity of monetary policy to market conditions. EMU appeared on the agenda as the Conservative Government wrestled with the question of ERM entry, and a cleavage appeared between ‘Europhiles’ and ‘Eurosceptics’. Mrs Thatcher was intent on asserting a more strident leadership on ‘Europe’, whilst her Chancellor was acting as a policy entrepreneur. Her government was thus ill‐prepared strategically for the EMU negotiations. After the surprise of the Delors Committee outcome, the Whitehall machine established tight policy coordination. Given the political context, however, it remained vulnerable to a narrowness of vision.
Deirdre Curtin
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199264087
- eISBN:
- 9780191718281
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199264087.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, EU Law
The picture of Brussels-based bureaucrats exercising wide-ranging, arbitrary executive powers with no accountability is one of the favourite images conjured by Eurosceptics across the political ...
More
The picture of Brussels-based bureaucrats exercising wide-ranging, arbitrary executive powers with no accountability is one of the favourite images conjured by Eurosceptics across the political spectrum. What truth is there in the image? This book aims to bring the EU's executive powers out of the shadows by mapping the evolution and current form of the EU's various executive actors, their powers, and the mechanisms for holding them accountable. In doing so it provides a rich understanding of the way in which the EU's institutional and legal framework fits within national constitutional presumptions about how power should be controlled and accountability achieved. Covering both the political executive and the administrative executive at the EU institutional level, the book analyzes their relationship with national executive power, and traces the historical evolution of executive order in Europe from the Peace of Westphalia through classic inter-governmental organizations to the allegedly unique EU framework. The book's analysis covers both the formal legal structure of the Union and the evolution of the EU's living institutions in practice. The picture presented is of a fragmented, cluttered and complex European executive space, resistant to radical constitutional reform and in need of a more nuanced understanding of the different forms of executive power required by different political aims and modes of decision-making.Less
The picture of Brussels-based bureaucrats exercising wide-ranging, arbitrary executive powers with no accountability is one of the favourite images conjured by Eurosceptics across the political spectrum. What truth is there in the image? This book aims to bring the EU's executive powers out of the shadows by mapping the evolution and current form of the EU's various executive actors, their powers, and the mechanisms for holding them accountable. In doing so it provides a rich understanding of the way in which the EU's institutional and legal framework fits within national constitutional presumptions about how power should be controlled and accountability achieved. Covering both the political executive and the administrative executive at the EU institutional level, the book analyzes their relationship with national executive power, and traces the historical evolution of executive order in Europe from the Peace of Westphalia through classic inter-governmental organizations to the allegedly unique EU framework. The book's analysis covers both the formal legal structure of the Union and the evolution of the EU's living institutions in practice. The picture presented is of a fragmented, cluttered and complex European executive space, resistant to radical constitutional reform and in need of a more nuanced understanding of the different forms of executive power required by different political aims and modes of decision-making.
Richard Rose
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- February 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199654765
- eISBN:
- 9780191803642
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199654765.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union
This book makes an assessment of the challenge facing the European Union today: it can no longer carry out integration by stealth. Measures adopted to save the eurozone impose visible political costs ...
More
This book makes an assessment of the challenge facing the European Union today: it can no longer carry out integration by stealth. Measures adopted to save the eurozone impose visible political costs without clearly visible benefits. There is a lack of popular commitment to more European integration because EU institutions represent its citizens indirectly or not at all. Reliance on citizenship is politically dangerous, since people retain the power to reject their national government because of commitments it makes in Brussels. The book’s pragmatic approach recommends that enhanced European integration should be based on coalitions of the willing and accommodation of the unwilling. Federalists and Eurosceptics will alternatively agree and disagree with the argument of this book. But they cannot ignore the challenge it raises for the EU to pay more attention to the half a billion people it claims to represent.Less
This book makes an assessment of the challenge facing the European Union today: it can no longer carry out integration by stealth. Measures adopted to save the eurozone impose visible political costs without clearly visible benefits. There is a lack of popular commitment to more European integration because EU institutions represent its citizens indirectly or not at all. Reliance on citizenship is politically dangerous, since people retain the power to reject their national government because of commitments it makes in Brussels. The book’s pragmatic approach recommends that enhanced European integration should be based on coalitions of the willing and accommodation of the unwilling. Federalists and Eurosceptics will alternatively agree and disagree with the argument of this book. But they cannot ignore the challenge it raises for the EU to pay more attention to the half a billion people it claims to represent.
Robert F. Dewey
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719078712
- eISBN:
- 9781781702147
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719078712.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Political History
This chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the opposition to Great Britain's membership to the EEC. It briefly reviews the chronology of Britain's application and Prime Minister Harold ...
More
This chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the opposition to Great Britain's membership to the EEC. It briefly reviews the chronology of Britain's application and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's claim that the Common Market application represented a turning point in British history. This chapter discusses the impact of the anti-Market campaign and the connection between anti-Marketeers and Eurosceptics. It concludes that anti-Marketeers and Eurosceptics were ultimately united by an instinctive reaction to integration, a perception that aspects of European unity are incompatible with a set of achievements and characteristics that they believe define Britain as a unique nation among nations.Less
This chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the opposition to Great Britain's membership to the EEC. It briefly reviews the chronology of Britain's application and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's claim that the Common Market application represented a turning point in British history. This chapter discusses the impact of the anti-Market campaign and the connection between anti-Marketeers and Eurosceptics. It concludes that anti-Marketeers and Eurosceptics were ultimately united by an instinctive reaction to integration, a perception that aspects of European unity are incompatible with a set of achievements and characteristics that they believe define Britain as a unique nation among nations.
