The State of the European Union. Vol. 7, With US or Against US? European Trends in American Perspective

This is the seventh report on the state of the European Union sponsored by the European Union Studies Association. Can there be too much of a good thing? Here we find 19 essays written by 25 scholars who examine the different aspects of the EU: its external policies, its institutions, its political economy, its culture and identity, and the effects of its activities on relations between Europe and the United States. The participants in what is much more than a survey are a mix of well-established and younger scholars, the crème de la crème of EU scholarship (although a few big names are missing). The comparisons with the United States are thought provoking and point out not only the sharpened policy and cultural differences of the past few years but also how far the EU remains from being "a true European nation." The fiascoes of the French and Dutch referendums on the European constitution showed that federalism is still a shadowy idea and that there is, at present, a vacuum of ideas, a lack of leadership, and a failure of will in the EU. This fine volume is like an MRI of a currently sleeping patient.