Unveiling the Council of the European Union - Games Governments Play in Brussels

For a long time our textbook knowledge of what is happening in the Council of the European Union – the major decision forum of the EU – was to a large extent based on limited interview-based evidence. One reason for that was the closed nature of the Council. In a very few years, however, thanks to new transparency rules and increased efforts by scholars, we have seen a whole range of superb qualitative and quantitative data collections as well as more convincing theorizing. EU researchers are better equipped than ever before to analyze the decision-making processes of the Council and to test conventional wisdoms. The effect will be important, not only with respect to our knowledge of the Council itself – and therefore of EU politics in general – but also because this research is advancing general theories about how governments interact in international institutions, for which the Council is a particularly fruitful object of study. This book covers the most contentious areas and important debates in the present research, focusing in particular on conflict dimensions, modes of interaction and power and leadership in the Council. 'Highly interesting from start to finish.' - European Library 'The volume's excellent choice of contributions and its comprehensive and encouraging insights raise the bar in Council studies several notches.' - Tim Veen, University of Nottingham, Political Studies Review

Introduction: From Rags to Riches; D.Naurin & H.Wallace PART I: COALITION-BUILDING Voting and Coalitions in the Council after the Enlargement; M.Mattila Voting, Statements and Coalition-Building in the Council from 1999 to 2006; S.Hagemann East-North-South: Coalition-Building in the Council Before and After Enlargement; D.Naurin & R.Lindahl PART II: CONSENSUS Veto Players Theory and Consensus Behaviour; T.König & D.Junge The Mechanisms of Consensus: Coming to Agreement on Community Asylum Policy; J.P.Aus PART III: DELIBERATION Deliberation and Bargaining in the Article 113 Committee and the 1996/97 IGC Representatives Group; A.Niemann Risk Regulation, GMOs, and the Limits of Deliberation; M.A.Pollack & G.C.Shaffer Strategic Bargaining, Norms, and Deliberation; J.Lewis PART IV: LEADERSHIP The Power of the Chair: Formal Leadership by the Council Presidency; J.Tallberg Steering, but not Dominating: The Impact of the Council Presidency on EU Legislation; A.Warntjen The Facilitator of Efficient Negotiations in the Council: The Impact of the Council Secretariat; D.Beach The Relative Power of Member States in the Council: Large and Small, Old and New; R.Thomson PART V: METHODOLOGICAL DEBATE How Should we Best Study the Council of Ministers?; D.Heisenberg Neither Goethe nor Bismarck: On the Link between Theory and Empirics in Council Decision-Making Studies; G.Schneider