Overview

This book deals with ongoing processes of European cooperation and integration, processes that may have a potential to change the political organization of Europe. Based on ideas from 'the new institutionalism' the book offers a systematic perspective on institutional change and in particular the role of institutions in relation to four central and durable issues in the study of political life. These are: (1) the mediation between unity and diversity: what ties a society together and what keeps it apart. (2) The relations between citizens and their helpers: why the democratic deficit in the European Union can not be eliminated solely by making mechanisms of direct citizens participation and representation more efficient. Needed are also institutions that make direct participation redundant because they routinely work with integrity, generating expected and desired outcomes. (3) The relation between democratic design and historical drift: To what degree democracies are able to design and reform key institutions of governance so that their structures reflect popular will, understanding and control. (4) The co-existence of old and new political orders: How elements of a new order may supplement rather than replace elements of the old order, generating a 'mixed order' based on partly inconsistent principles and rules.

Full Product Details

Author:   Johan P. Olsen (Professor and Director of Research, ARENA, Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Norway)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 16.60cm , Height: 3.00cm , Length: 24.00cm
Weight:   0.634kg
ISBN:  

9780199214341

ISBN 10:   0199214344
Pages:   352
Publication Date:   01 February 2007
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

"Introduction Part I. Unity and diversity 1: The possibility of political order 2: The legacy: Nationalization of political life 3: ""Europeanization"": fashionable and contested term 4: A prelude to an institutional account Part II. Citizens and their helpers 5: What role for Euro citizens? 6: ""DEL to serve the citizens of Europe"" 7: Institutions of governance - can democracies choose them? 8: Reformers as pawns, engineers and gardeners 9: Coping with conflict at constitutional moments Part IV. New and old political orders 10: Europeanization of the territorial state 11: Towards a European administrative space? Bibliography Index"

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Author Information

Johan P. Olsen (b. 14 August 1939 in Tromsø, Norway) is professor in political science and Director of Research at the Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo. Either alone or in collaboration with colleagues, he has written or edited 19 books and written more than 100 book chapters and articles, many of them in leading international journals. Together with James G. March and Michael D. Cohen he developed the 'garbage can'-model of organizational decision making, and together with March he launched the concept of 'new institutionalism' in the mid 1980s. He received the American Political Science Association's John Gaus Award for his life-long contribution to public administration and political science

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