Review: Policy-Making in the European Communities, L'Europe des Crises
| Date | 01 March 1979 |
| Published date | 01 March 1979 |
| Author | François Duchêne |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070207903400111 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
128
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
POLICY-MAKING
IN
THE
EUROPEAN
COMMUNITIES
Edited
by
Helen
Wallace,
William
Wallace,
and
Carole
Webb
New
York:
Toronto:
John
Wiley,
1977,
xiv,
341pp,
$21.95
L'EUROPE
DES
CRISES
Robert
Triffin,
Raymond
Aron, Raymond
Barre, Ren6
Ewalenko
Brussels:
Emile
Bruylant,
1976,
171pp,
477
francs
Que
la
R~publique
6tait
belle
sous
l'Empirel
-
and
the
European
Community
when
it
was
still
a
grand
design
in
the founding
fathers'
eyes.
The
scepticism
of
watching
it
struggle
to
live
today
infuses
both
these
sadder
and
wiser
books,
most
of
all perhaps the
one
with
the
ostensibly
neutral
title,
Policy-making
in
the
European
Communities.
One of
the
virtues
of
this
vigorous book
is
its
determination
to
look
at
the
animal
for
what
it
is
rather
than
what
it
is
said
to
be.
'Detailed
case
studies
of
how
the Communities
operate
in
particular
instances
and
in
different
areas
of policy
are
...
rather
rare.'
This
omission
is
re-
paired
by
nine
authors
(eight
political
scientists,
one
lawyer;
five
British,
four
American)
in nine
instances
chosen
to
illustrate
some
areas
of
policy
explicitly
covered
by
the
Rome
Treaties
(eg,
value-added
tax),
others
only
implicitly
(eg,
regional
policy),
and
others
still,
like
polit-
ical
co-operation,
not
at
all.
The
editors
have
succeeded,
where
so
many
fail, in giving
their
team
effort
a
focus,
largely
by
having
a
clear
target, the
neo-functionalists
who
in
the
195os
and
196os
(perhaps
un-
consciously)
tended
to give
an
extended
gloss
on
Jean
Monnet's
obiter
dicta
on the
'Community
method.'
'One
cannot
but
be
amazed,'
writes
William
Wallace
in
his
conclusion,
'that
American
political
scientists,
familiar
as
they
were
with
the political
deadlocks,
the
log-rolling,
the
awkward
and
irrational
compromises
and
the
concern
for
parochial
constituency
interests which
characterize
the
multilevel
system
of
Amer-
ican
politics,
should
nevertheless
have
theorized
about
a
developing
United
States
of
Europe
which
would
miraculously
display
none
of
these basic
political
characteristics.'
The
case-studies
tend
to
bear
out
this
emphasis
on pluralistic
pol-
icies.
Neo-functional,
intergovernmental,
and
transnational
elements
untidily
jostle one
another in
Community
decision-making.
But there
is,
of
course,
a
key
difference
between
Europe
and
America.
America
is
a
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