At first glance, the social purpose and the democratic potential of the EU have made progress in the last 15 years. However, this impression is misleading. We argue instead that the social and democratic potentials of the EU are crucially shaped by the heterogeneity of European varieties of...

In the past, economic integration in Europe was largely compatible with the persistence of different national varieties of capitalism. While product market integration intensified competition, member states could build on and foster their respective comparative advantage. To date, this no longer...

In a recent article, Caporaso and Tarrow have argued that the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is increasingly moving in a social policy direction that will ultimately put European politics on a “Polanyian” course. We take issue with their claim and distinguish three...

At first glance, the social purpose and the democratic potential of the EU have made progress in the last 15 years. However, this impression is misleading. We argue instead that the social and democratic potentials of the EU are crucially shaped by the heterogeneity of European varieties of...

In the past, economic integration in Europe was largely compatible with the persistence of different national varieties of capitalism. While product market integration intensified competition, member states could build on and foster their respective comparative advantage. To date, this no longer...

Die politische und die wirtschaftliche Integration Europas sind eng verwoben. Betrachtet man das Zusammenwirken beider Bereiche, wird deutlich, dass Europa aus einer Vielzahl historisch gewachsener Wirtschafts- und Sozialmodelle besteht. Welche wirtschaftlichen und politischen Veränderungen die...

In der Europäischen Union gibt es unterschiedliche Sozial- und Kapitalismusmodelle. Mit jeder Erweiterungsrunde hat die institutionelle Vielfalt der Mitgliedstaaten zugenommen. Gleichzeitig hat die politische und wirtschaftliche Integration Europas an Intensität gewonnen. Die Beiträge dieses...

This paper contributes to the EU reform debate that the Commission started with its white paper on the future of Europe. I suggest that we should not only pay attention to the political competences of the EU, but also focus on the restriction of the political room for manoeuvre which derives...