Abstract
European politics has undoubtedly undergone a series of transformations in recent decades. The collapse of the communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe, the move towards a post-industrial society and the ongoing European integration process have dramatically changed the political map of Europe and altered the room for political manoeuvre by national governments.
José Magone addresses this ‘new European politics’ and contextualises it ‘within the overarching and growing importance of European integration’ (p. 2). The aim of the book is ‘to look through all political aspects of European politics in order to compare the similarities, differences and tendencies towards convergence between the countries’ (p. 11). In the first four chapters, Magone describes recent changes to European politics, outlines historical legacies, discusses Rokkan's classic theoretical framework and considers pressures of Europeanisation (p. 23). These more introductory chapters are followed by systematic discussions of political institutions, public administration reform, parties, party systems, elections and interest intermediation.
To map out the differences and similarities across political systems and to identify reasons behind them, Magone uses a comparative approach. The author ensures a broad perspective by including 37 countries in the analysis, and then reduces complexity by grouping them into twelve regional clusters (Benelux, Germanic, Nordic, British Isles, Southern, France, Mediterranean islands, Baltic, (East) Central, Eastern, Balkan and Turkey). The analysis is not strictly organised around these clusters, however. When other aspects, for instance degrees of parliamentary strength, seem more important than regional political cultures, the material has been organised accordingly.
The book has been marketed as an introductory textbook, which is somewhat misleading. True, it provides an introductory overview of political systems in Europe, but students without a basic prior understanding of comparative politics are likely to struggle. The book is best suited to students who have some grounding in comparative politics and the functioning of the European Union, but who may be new to the comparative study of European states. The scope is ambitious and few textbooks can compete with its depth of coverage. Magone's motivation behind the pan-European approach was to ‘overcome the bias of most comparative books on Europe, which focus only on the larger countries’ (p. 5), and he certainly succeeds in that goal. Overall it is an enjoyable read, although there is a frustrating lack of attention to detail on the spellings of foreign names and concepts.