Book Review: Justice Contained. Law and Politics in the European Union
| Author | Tobias Nowak |
| Published date | 01 December 2004 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1023263X0401100406 |
| Date | 01 December 2004 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
Book Reviews
11 MJ 4 (2004) 425
Lisa Conant, Justice Contained. Law and Politics in the European Union,
Cornell University Press, 2002, xv + 250 pages, hardback, € 51
In this book Lisa Conant analyzes the influence of the European Court of Justice (ECJ)
on policy-making in the EU. Her main question is: ‘What are the sources and conditions
of judicial power over policy-making in the European Union?’ She considers both the
EU level and the domestic level of policy making. She uses an interest based approach
derived from political economy to explain the political reactions to rulings of the ECJ.
The core of the book consists of four case studies. Two case studies are taken from the
field of competition (telecommunication, electricity) and two from the field of
discrimination based on nationality (access to public sector employment, access to
social benefits). In addition, Conant makes a short comparison between the ECJ and the
Supreme Court of the United States of America in the last chapter of the book. This
book review starts by describing Conant’s point of departure and her theoretical basis. It
then summarizes her four case studies and her conclusions. An assessment of the book
is given at the end.
Lisa Conant is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Denver.
She is a specialist in politics and legal integration in the EU and the comparative study
of law and society. This book is based on her dissertation.
§ 1 Introduction and theoretical background
Conant begins by criticizing the widely held assumptions that Court rulings lead to
affirmative political responses because of their convincing logic, their reflection of
Member State interests, and the support from national courts. For Conant, the influence
of the ECJ depends on legal and political mobilization. This mobilization is comprised
of ‘strategic litigation campaigns of copycat cases, the mass filing of parallel claims
before bureaucracies, the systematic prosecution of parallel cases by enforcement
agencies, and the lobbying of officials and elected representatives.’ Rulings of the ECJ
influence the political decision-making process by offering new solutions, reopening
political debate, and providing bargaining chips for political actors.
She illustrates the political impact rulings of the European Court of Justice can have
with a short account of the Cassis de Dijon case.1 In the case of Cassis de Dijon she
argues that the Member States were afraid of more cases concerning the free movement
of goods and therefore agreed to common regulations.
In the second chapter Conant goes on to discuss the importance of the reactions of
organized societal actors and public institutional actors to rulings of the ECJ. The
1. Case 120/78 Rewe-Zentral AG v. Bundesmonopolverwaltung für Branntwein [1979] ECR 649.
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