Handbook of European Policies: Interpretive Approaches to the EU (Handbooks of Research on Public Policy series)

By: Hubert Heinelt and Sybille Münch

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Synopsis: This definitive Handbook addresses the current lack of research into European policymaking and development using an interpretive perspective. Questioning areas that mainstream approaches tend to neglect, contributors target the ways in which ideas, arguments and discourses shape policies in the institutional context of the EU. The Handbook of European Policies provides an in-depth and comprehensive introduction for all significant policy areas in the EU, highlighting the theories of post-positivism and interpretivism. With rich explanations of different methodological and conceptual approaches to post-positivist research, key chapters consider the essential exchange between EU integration studies and EU policy studies, examining how both can benefit from this new and exciting approach. Offering theoretically grounded answers, this Handbook creates a dialogue between critical policy studies and European integration theory. Academics and practitioners concerned with the functioning of EU policies will benefit from the eminent contributors’ insights into issues high on the institutional agenda of the EU and its member states. In addition, the Handbook is suitable for both undergraduate and graduate courses concerned with European integration and EU policies.