Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This text aims to provide concise coverage of all the major dimensions and implications of the European Union. Rather than focusing just on the history or the politics or the economics of the EU, or on detailed coverage of its institutions and/or policies, John McCormick's book introduces all aspects of European integration combining a clear and accessible thematic narrative with boxed summaries of a wide range of essential facts and figures.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

McCormick claims his book provides a helpful understanding of the European Union(EU), which is necessary since few people know much about it. The author published The European Union: Politics and Policies (1996) but presents the volume under review as more introductory, broad ranging, and more readable than competing books. Yet like so many of these other works, McCormick explains the history of European institutions, the goals and motives behind the idea of Europe, the structure and functioning of the five main institutions of the EU, and the changes it made in the lives of Europeans. In different chapters, he surveys theories on regional integration and shows how the EU is different from conventional international organizations, assesses the relationship between the EU and its member states and the constitutional issues involved, and examines the impact of EU policies on citizenship, culture, workers' rights, and unemployment. He concludes by discussing the attempts to develop a European foreign and defense policy and by examining the EU as the world's newest economic superpower. This is not a work of original scholarship, but it is clearly written and useful as an introduction for undergraduate students. M. Curtis; Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick