Book Details

Description

Analyzes factors that both drive and impede the establishment of transnational markets at the level of the nation state.  Harmonizing Europe analyzes factors that both drive and impede the establishment of transnational markets, such as the European Union--EU, NAFTA or MERCOSUR. The author argues that the fit between domestic institutions (namely, the legal and administrative legacies of nation states, and the organization of interest groups) and the rules and regulations of transnational markets determines the degree to which transnational markets find their way into member states and become reality. By turning to the European Union and two of its directives (equal pay and air pollution), Duina explores the driving forces behind the implementation of such directives, the ability of institutional theory to explain political and social events, and the determining factors in the fate of environmental and gender policies in transnational markets. "The book takes on an important question in EU politics. Many, if not most, studies on the EU ’end’ with the adoption of a particular agreement at the level of the Community, and fail to trace the legislative record of implementation to the level of member states. This book looks in detail at two specific directives and chronicles the difficult path to implementation. It thus gives a greater feel for just how hard it is to create a single market in Europe, given all the vested interests that are threatened by that project." -- Steven Weber, University of California, Berkeley "The straightforward empirical testing of these hypotheses and the conclusions are important achievements of empirical analytic work in the realm of implementation of EU directives. This is a stimulating example of very good normal science." -- Michael Zuern, University of Bremen

 Francesco G. Duina is Lecturer in the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies at Harvard University, and a management consultant at The Monitor Company, an international management consulting firm.