The Politics of European Citizenship - by Peo Hansen & Sandy Brian Hager (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

As the European Union faces the ongoing challenges of legitimacy, identity, and social cohesion, an understanding of the social purpose and direction of EU citizenship becomes increasingly vital. This book is the first of its kind to map the development of EU citizenship and its relation to various localities of EU governance. From a critical political economy perspective, the authors argue for an integrated analysis of EU citizenship, one that considers the interrelated processes of migration, economic transformation, and social change and the challenges they present.

Review Quotes

"Academics and policy makers alike who have an interest in exploring the complex interrelations between economic and migration policy and popular legitimacy as they play out both in historical and contemporary European politics will find this book a provocative source of both empirical information and critique." - CEU Political Science Journal

"Hansen and Hager's crucial contribution lies in the empirically well-founded revelation of the ways in which history and politics continue to matter in EU policy-making...The Politics of European Citizenshiptherefore constitutes a key resource for everyone aiming to systematically unpick some of the key policy tensions of European integration project; more than that, it is an extremely well and entertainingly written account of a highly complex and contradictory policy terrain." - Journal of Social Policy Review

"Hansen and Hager's work...is distinctive in its approach, with its uniqueness stemming from the critical historical approach it takes.[it] ought to be compulsory reading for all those who are interested in citizenship issues within the European context." - Journal of European Social Policy

"[The authors'] analysis is thought-provoking, ... offers thoughtful reading and is well-written and engaging." - Open Citizenship

"In contrast to most books on EU citizenship this book is a page-turner until the end. I found myself varyingly intrigued, annoyed, and challenged. This is what a book should be. It is provocative, almost polemical, and should get noticed. Above all, I believe that there is room--indeed an overwhelming need for--a variety of books on these topics that challenge rather than replicate each other." - Randall Hansen, University of Toronto

"This volume offers an intriguing, thought-provoking argument, linking the neo-liberalization of many EU policy developments (via the Single European Market and the Lisbon Agenda) to an ever more restrictive conceptualization of 'European citizenship' à la Maastricht... The subfield of EU studies has become so over-specialized that we could really use more texts of this nature linking contradictory policy domains and national vs. supranational currents." - Joyce Mushaben, University of Missouri-St.Louis

"...the book offers important insights into the contradictions and limits of the current integration project and how these limits might be transcended in order to come to a more veritable realisation of the citizenship ideal within the European Union. Highly recommended for any student of European governance and European political economy." - Bastiaan van Apeldoorn, Department of Political Science, VU University Amsterdam