Opting Out of the European Union: Diplomacy, Sovereignty and European Integration

Rebecca Adler-Nissen

Cambridge University Press, Aug 29, 2014 - Electronic books - 268 pages

European integration continues to deepen despite major crises and attempts to take back sovereignty. A growing number of member states are reacting to a more constraining EU by negotiating opt-outs. This book provides the first in-depth account of how opt-outs work in practice. It examines the most controversial cases of differentiated integration: the British and Danish opt-outs from Economic and Monetary Union and European policies on borders, asylum, migration, internal security and justice. Drawing on over one hundred interviews with national representatives and EU officials, the author demonstrates how representatives manage the stigma of opting out, allowing them to influence even politically sensitive areas covered by their opt-outs. Developing a political sociology of European integration, the book shows how everyday negotiations transform national interests into European ideals. It is usually assumed that states opt out to preserve sovereignty, but Adler-Nissen argues that national opt-outs may actually reinforce the integration process.

About the author

Rebecca Adler-Nissen is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen. Her research focuses on international relations theory, diplomacy, sovereignty, security and European integration. She is editor of Bourdieu in International Relations: Rethinking Key Concepts in IR (2012), and co-editor of European Integration and Postcolonial Sovereignty Games: The EU Overseas Countries and Territories (2012) and Sovereignty Games: Instrumentalizing State Sovereignty in Europe and Beyond (2008).

Bibliographic information

• Title: Opting Out of the European Union: Diplomacy, Sovereignty and European Integration
• Author: Rebecca Adler-Nissen
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2014
• ISBN: 1316004317, 9781316004319
• Length: 268 pages