Parliament and Europe: Rhetorical and Conceptual Studies on Their Contemporary Connections

This book presents an alternative view to implicit and explicit assumptions on the relation between Parliament and Europe in contemporary Europe. It is common to assume European integration diminishes the influence of national parliaments and the European Parliament does not possess sufficient compe [...]
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This book presents an alternative view to implicit and explicit assumptions on the relation between Parliament and Europe in contemporary Europe. It is common to assume European integration diminishes the influence of national parliaments and the European Parliament does not possess sufficient competencies. Alternatively, this volume demonstrates that the relation between Parliament and Europe is a dynamic one in several respects, and that it is shaped crucially by political rhetoric - the parliamentary style of politics being based on "government by speaking" (Macaulay). The book's starting point is to take Parliament and Europe as political concepts which are currently objects of change and struggle. "A new world requires a new science of politics" - Alexis de Tocqueville's famous words from 1835 - can also be applied to the new world of the European Union. Departing from this idea, the book presents a dynamic view on the relationship between Parliament and Europe by rendering the conceptual and political struggles - as well as the dynamic and changing interrelations - between Parliaments and Europe as more visible and accessible.