Community and autonomy: Institutions, policies and legitimacy in multilevel Europe

Since the mid-1980s, Fritz W. Scharpf's work has been concerned with the evolution of the multilevel European polity and its impact on the effectiveness and legitimacy of democratic government in Europe. This volume begins with the oft-cited essay arguing that Europe's problem solving capacity was constrained by a "joint decision trap." Subsequent analyses distinguish between effective policies promoting "negative integration" and the greater difficulties of "positive integration" which, in turn, correspond to the institutional conditions of "non-political" (judicial) and "political" (legislative) action at the European level. Drawing on these insights, the most recent contributions focus on the asymmetric impact of European law on the institutions and policy legacies of EU member states and on the implications of these asymmetries for the democratic legitimacy of governing at national and European levels.