Institutional And Policy Change In The European Parliament

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In a European Union increasingly worried about the security of its citizens and its territory, how should the European Parliament make policy decisions on these issues? In the past, its open defence of civil liberties and human rights sparked a number of conflicts with member states in the Council of the EU.

Since 2005, the European Parliament has gained the power to co-decide in most internal security matters and can also give consent to international agreements. Its full participation in decision-making led to the expectation that the emphasis on security would decrease yet these last few years have seen continuity rather than change in this policy area.

This study investigates why the formal empowerment of the European Parliament did not lead to a new balance between security and liberty. It argues that, in its new position as a full decision-maker, the European Parliament faced a crucial trade-off: in order to be accepted as a legitimate and effective partner in inter-institutional negotiations, it had to abandon its traditional positions and accept that security would remain the cornerstone of this policy area.

Review: 'Ripoll Servent has produced a groundbreaking analysis of the European Parliament as an emerging actor in the EU's Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. By linking a very significant new political actor with empirical investigations in three distinct case studies, the book makes a substantial contribution to our understanding of both the institutional framework and the legislative output of the EU.

It is highly recommended for anyone interested in European security governance or European studies more generally'. - Christian Kaunert, Professor of International Politics, University of Dundee, Scotland 'Take a policy area of immense normative and empirical complexity - AFSJ - attempt to explain the dynamics of change and the institutional configurations affecting policy development in that area, and then refract that explanation through the analytical prisms of rational-choice and constructivist models of new institutionalism and the result is this book.

Out of this mix, indeed, comes an ambitious book of immense clarity, intellectual curiosity and analytical sophistication with which to make sense of the European Parliament's contribution to developments and changes in the EU's internal security policies.' - David Judge, Emeritus Professor of Government, University of Strathclyde, Scotland 'Ariadna Ripoll Servent combines theoretical insight with empirical depth to excellent effect in this book as she critically analyses the European Parliament's response to the increase in its powers in the Area of Freedom Justice and Security.

By combining her excellent understanding of the Parliament's behaviour with her in-depth policy knowledge she provides a book which is timely and relevant to scholars of both the European Parliament and EU security policies alike.' - Charlotte Burns, Lecturer in European Environmental Policy, University of York, UK