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Alarums and Excursions: Improvising Politics on the European Stage
Crisis after crisis has beset the European Union in recent years – Greek sovereign debt, Russian annexation of Crimea, unprecedented levels of migration, and the turmoil created by Brexit. An organization originally designed to regulate and enforce rules about fishing rights, wheat quotas and product standards has found itself on the global stage forced to grapple with problems of identity, sovereignty and solidarity without a script or prompt. From Paris to Berlin, London to Athens, European leaders have had to improvise on issues that the Union was never set up to handle and which threaten to engulf this unique political entity. And they have had to do so in full view of an increasingly disenchanted and dissonant public audience.
In this candid and revealing portrayal of a Europe improvising its way through a politics of events and not rules, Luuk van Middelaar makes sense of the EU’s political metamorphosis over its past ten years of
crisis management. Forced into action by a tidal wave of emergencies, Van Middelaar shows how Europe has had to reinvent itself by casting off its legal straitjacket and confronting hard issues of power, territorial borders and public authority.
Alarums and Excursions showcases the fascinating relationship between the Union and the European heads of government, and the stresses it must withstand in dealing with real world events. For anyone seeking
to understand the inner power play and constitutional dynamics of this controversial, but no less remarkable, political institution, this book provides compelling reading.
In this candid and revealing portrayal of a Europe improvising its way through a politics of events and not rules, Luuk van Middelaar makes sense of the EU’s political metamorphosis over its past ten years of
crisis management. Forced into action by a tidal wave of emergencies, Van Middelaar shows how Europe has had to reinvent itself by casting off its legal straitjacket and confronting hard issues of power, territorial borders and public authority.
Alarums and Excursions showcases the fascinating relationship between the Union and the European heads of government, and the stresses it must withstand in dealing with real world events. For anyone seeking
to understand the inner power play and constitutional dynamics of this controversial, but no less remarkable, political institution, this book provides compelling reading.
404 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 20, 2020
22 people are currently reading
408 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 7, 2022
Чєл фанатіє від метафори політики як театру. У випадку з ЄС головне, щоб це не був театр абсурду. Бо захоплюватись Меркель, коли та у 2014 році відмовляла у військовій допомозі Україні, це таки крінж
March 10, 2018
Fantastisch boek. Ik wil het iedereen aanraden - niet op zijn minst alle mensen die in of met Brussel werken. Je kunt Van Middelaars scherpe analyses opzuigen als een spons. Net alsof je weer in de collegebanken zit, hangend aan de lippen van een geweldige docent. Lees dit, lieve mensen!
January 22, 2018
Erg intelligente realpolitieke analyse over de EU.
July 14, 2019
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3197844.html
This book came out only last month in English translation (originally published two years ago in Dutch as De nieuwe politiek van Europa, but clearly updated as it includes many references to events of late 2017 and 2018). I vaguely know the author, and tidying up the house at the weekend found an invitation to a dinner we both attended several years ago. He was the speechwriter for the first full-time President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, but apart from that is political scientist, a philosopher and a perceptive analyst of what is really going on - constructively critical of the stories that the EU tells itself. I drew very much on the book in preparing my own recent talk on Brexit. In March, the Irish Times published a nice précis of his views, especially as applied to Brexit.
Several years ago, a senior (and British) EU official quipped to me that the EU's triumph is to convert difficult political issues into boring technical details. Van Middelaar dismantles this EU self-perception in forensic detail, first of all outlining several crucial recent cases where the politics was everything, and technical details held crucial political importance - the EU crisis, the Ukraine crisis, the refugee crisis, and the EU's response to Trump and Brexit - and then delving deeper into the EU's system of governance, showing that technocracy is not enough to satisfy the public's requirements for accountability.
I found particularly useful his point that the EU system was not built to include internal constructive opposition. It was deliberately and politically constructed as a massive peace project, removing the incentives for future conflict in Europe through economic co-operation. The EU works by consensus, expertise, technocracy, and grand coalitions. Even though almost all decisions by member states in the Council of Ministers are theoretically taken by qualified majority, in fact there are very few votes; there is a strong incentive to find a consensus. The same is true in the European Parliament, where unlike in a national parliament there is no group of members representing a potential alternate government.
This is both a strength and a weakness. Van Middelaar looks at the failures of the European federalist model (Commission as sole executive, Parliament as sole legislature) and analyses where opposition actually does happen in the current system: among governments, from the European Parliament, from national parliaments, from groups of opposition parties and from maverick forces. The EU has not yet accommodated all of these voices in its own political order, and it will take a certain change of mind-set in its leadership for that to happen. Van Middelaar doesn't say so directly, but it's more likely than not that the EU will adapt to the reality it has created; that's what has always happened before.
It's a book which will be of more interest to those who support the EU project than to those who oppose it (and of very little interest to those who don't much care one way or the other). Strongly recommended.
This book came out only last month in English translation (originally published two years ago in Dutch as De nieuwe politiek van Europa, but clearly updated as it includes many references to events of late 2017 and 2018). I vaguely know the author, and tidying up the house at the weekend found an invitation to a dinner we both attended several years ago. He was the speechwriter for the first full-time President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, but apart from that is political scientist, a philosopher and a perceptive analyst of what is really going on - constructively critical of the stories that the EU tells itself. I drew very much on the book in preparing my own recent talk on Brexit. In March, the Irish Times published a nice précis of his views, especially as applied to Brexit.
Several years ago, a senior (and British) EU official quipped to me that the EU's triumph is to convert difficult political issues into boring technical details. Van Middelaar dismantles this EU self-perception in forensic detail, first of all outlining several crucial recent cases where the politics was everything, and technical details held crucial political importance - the EU crisis, the Ukraine crisis, the refugee crisis, and the EU's response to Trump and Brexit - and then delving deeper into the EU's system of governance, showing that technocracy is not enough to satisfy the public's requirements for accountability.
I found particularly useful his point that the EU system was not built to include internal constructive opposition. It was deliberately and politically constructed as a massive peace project, removing the incentives for future conflict in Europe through economic co-operation. The EU works by consensus, expertise, technocracy, and grand coalitions. Even though almost all decisions by member states in the Council of Ministers are theoretically taken by qualified majority, in fact there are very few votes; there is a strong incentive to find a consensus. The same is true in the European Parliament, where unlike in a national parliament there is no group of members representing a potential alternate government.
This is both a strength and a weakness. Van Middelaar looks at the failures of the European federalist model (Commission as sole executive, Parliament as sole legislature) and analyses where opposition actually does happen in the current system: among governments, from the European Parliament, from national parliaments, from groups of opposition parties and from maverick forces. The EU has not yet accommodated all of these voices in its own political order, and it will take a certain change of mind-set in its leadership for that to happen. Van Middelaar doesn't say so directly, but it's more likely than not that the EU will adapt to the reality it has created; that's what has always happened before.
It's a book which will be of more interest to those who support the EU project than to those who oppose it (and of very little interest to those who don't much care one way or the other). Strongly recommended.
October 29, 2019
A brilliant exposé of the workings of the EU bureaucracy and its transition from rule-making to solving political crises. IT is a book that has a possitive connotation and deep understanding of the inner workings of Brussels and of the summit system of heads of state which has developped more or less accidently and is in fact the saving of the EU. A "must read" for anyone interested in the European environment.
May 3, 2018
Very good! This should be recommended reading for all. Not a commercial for Europe but it helped my understanding why it is not ideal and what directions are possible. Impressive because the author is ‘from the inside’ but nevertheless balanced in his views.
November 23, 2025
"Alarums and Excursions" is written from the perspective of an EU bureaucracy insider - Luuk van Middelaar served as a speechwriter and advisor to the president of the European Council in 2010-2015 and is well acquainted with EU institutions both through his EU experience and as a political theorist. The book shows how EU institutions worked in action to deal with four important recent crises from 2009 to 2018: the euro crisis, the Russian invasion of Crimea, the refugee crisis, and the Brexit/Trump crisis. In the process, the author shows how the EU has evolved as an institution focused on "rules politics" and bureaucracy to "events politics" and improvisation - becoming a markedly more political and power-oriented institution in the process. Whereas EU policies have traditionally emphasized depoliticization, the crises of the 2010s have increasingly shaped the EU into an increasingly political body.
The second part of the book discusses where executive power lies in the EU and the importance of evolving to incorporate the opposition to ensure the longevity of the EU as well as to ensure the continued democratization and political power of the EU. The author argues that the EU does NOT face a choice between federalism and disintegration but that events will rather continue to force European nations to work closely together through the EU. An important and interesting book that is well worth the read by anyone interested in the EU and current affairs. I hope the author will consider writing a book in the future on the EU's continued evolution post-2022.
The second part of the book discusses where executive power lies in the EU and the importance of evolving to incorporate the opposition to ensure the longevity of the EU as well as to ensure the continued democratization and political power of the EU. The author argues that the EU does NOT face a choice between federalism and disintegration but that events will rather continue to force European nations to work closely together through the EU. An important and interesting book that is well worth the read by anyone interested in the EU and current affairs. I hope the author will consider writing a book in the future on the EU's continued evolution post-2022.
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February 11, 2018Luuk van Middelaar describes the European crises of the last decade, the diverse responses by the European Union's institutions and the effect of those crises on the interplay between the institutions. As a former active player (advisor to Herman Van Rompuy) he is hardly a neutral observer, and cannot avoid pleading the case of the European Council. Nevertheless the analyses are supported by well-documented research and the author builds up a coherent vision.
The 11 chapters are grouped into 4 themes each preceded by a brief introduction: (1) action; (2) temporal layers and faultlines; (3) government or not; and (4) opposition. Especially the latter two are interesting where he argues why executive power in Europe necessarily has to come from the interplay between the Commission and the European Council, with good reasons why neither of the two is able to replace the role of the other. In the last chapter he argues convincingly that "euroscepticism" (currently a euphemism for hatred of the European Union) is caused or at least greatly reinforced by the lack of a normal opposition to European governance, which lack invites in its turn opposition out of principle, i.e., against the system itself. He ends with proposals for how such a normal opposition could take shape, and with recent examples of its workings.
The 11 chapters are grouped into 4 themes each preceded by a brief introduction: (1) action; (2) temporal layers and faultlines; (3) government or not; and (4) opposition. Especially the latter two are interesting where he argues why executive power in Europe necessarily has to come from the interplay between the Commission and the European Council, with good reasons why neither of the two is able to replace the role of the other. In the last chapter he argues convincingly that "euroscepticism" (currently a euphemism for hatred of the European Union) is caused or at least greatly reinforced by the lack of a normal opposition to European governance, which lack invites in its turn opposition out of principle, i.e., against the system itself. He ends with proposals for how such a normal opposition could take shape, and with recent examples of its workings.
May 21, 2021
Een prachtig boek over hoe "Europa" in elkaar steekt en waarom. Welke spelers er zijn en wat hen in de basis beweegt.
Soms wat academisch, er vanuitgaand dat de lezer al basiskennis van "Europa" en "Brussel" heeft en zo nu en dan veronderstellend dat de lezer in ieder geval ook Frans en Duits spreekt, geeft dit boek context voor cruciale gebeurtenissen die de afgelopen jaren hebben plaatsgevonden. Deze context ontbreekt vaak in (nationale) media en in alledaagse gesprekken. Voor wie wil begrijpen wat alle kanten zijn van "Brussel": dit boek. Een goed cadeau van mijn vorige team.
De laatste update was in 2019. Ik hoop op nog een update nadat de huidige crisis voorbij is. Ik kan niet wachten op de visie van deze schrijver op "Europa" tijdens een pandemie.
Soms wat academisch, er vanuitgaand dat de lezer al basiskennis van "Europa" en "Brussel" heeft en zo nu en dan veronderstellend dat de lezer in ieder geval ook Frans en Duits spreekt, geeft dit boek context voor cruciale gebeurtenissen die de afgelopen jaren hebben plaatsgevonden. Deze context ontbreekt vaak in (nationale) media en in alledaagse gesprekken. Voor wie wil begrijpen wat alle kanten zijn van "Brussel": dit boek. Een goed cadeau van mijn vorige team.
De laatste update was in 2019. Ik hoop op nog een update nadat de huidige crisis voorbij is. Ik kan niet wachten op de visie van deze schrijver op "Europa" tijdens een pandemie.
July 18, 2020
Een erg goede inkijk in de Europese Unie en hoe deze aan het veranderen is. Van regelpolitiek naar “gebeurtenissenpolitiek”, met actuele voorbeelden (eurocrisis, vluchtelingencrisis, Brexit) en de opkomst van tegenkrachten (oppositie). De schrijver legt uit hoe historische ontwikkelingen en visies invloed hebben op de huidige ontwikkelingen van de Europese instellingen en op hoe de instelingen samen werken, of hier juist problemen bij ondervinden. Ook gaat hij uitgebreid in op hoe de Europese Unie weerbaarder kan worden (meer handelingsvermogen) en beter aansluiting kan zoeken tussen publiek-politiek. Dit is een proces dat al volop bezig is en met diverse voorbeelden wordt aangetoond.
December 25, 2021
Who is the executive body of the European Union?
The standard response would be the European Commission. However, the author presents us with an alternative view: it is the European Council.
This is true politically, since all its members are supposedly the “political boss” at home, and able to commit their own governments and parliament.
It is also true institutionally, since the circle of presidents and prime ministers can, in emergencies, go outside the formal EU treaty framework and act as an informal gathering of heads of state or government of the member states, entering unchartered territory.
A refreshing outlook on the Union's institutional framework.
The standard response would be the European Commission. However, the author presents us with an alternative view: it is the European Council.
This is true politically, since all its members are supposedly the “political boss” at home, and able to commit their own governments and parliament.
It is also true institutionally, since the circle of presidents and prime ministers can, in emergencies, go outside the formal EU treaty framework and act as an informal gathering of heads of state or government of the member states, entering unchartered territory.
A refreshing outlook on the Union's institutional framework.
July 8, 2018
Prima analyse van de recente ontwikkeling van de Europese Unie. Van Middelaar structureert zijn boek heel helder. Hij analyseert wat hij ziet als de ontwikkeling van regelpolitiek naar gebeurtenissenpolitiek, met veel aandacht voor de Europese Raad van regeringsleiders. De EU ligt nogal eens onder vuur en het is daarom een verademing dat Van Middelaar het laatste deel van zijn boek besteedt aan oppositie, waarmee de EU-instellingen slecht kunnen omgaan. Een antwoord op de politisering heeft de EU nog niet gevonden. Van Middelaar kan daarbij helpen.
August 6, 2022
Excellent analysis of the EU as a political entity. The author describes the shift to event politics, which require quick improvisation rather than the slow incremental progress the EU is known for. He also stresses the need for more visible and effective opposition within the system. So good I read it twice:)
July 15, 2019
Top books of 2019. Crucial to understand how the EU has coped with its recent crisis. A starting point for improvement in the EU's relationship with its citizens
July 22, 2020
Best book I’ve read on the EU
October 27, 2021
not for me. read it for my euro union course POLI 3316.
June 17, 2019
As the EU starts to have more salient reports on its crisis of identity, decision making, decentralised dissent. We wonder what could be driving these dissatisfactions. With this book, LVM reveals how the EU came to be, what were its aspirations and constitutional makeup. How it has increased its complexity with more nations joining, more economic streamlining of regulatory frameworks. But it's touches those events which provokes the centralised command to take stock and provide steps to mitigate its effects on the EU. However, decision making in trying to be too many things for its ideals are not juggle worthy. We thus see if the events spanning the 10 years of crisis; financial, geopolitics with its neighbours, the immigrant crisis and Brexit. The ruling components of borderless nations cannot be done in silo. Not when it's citizens are increasingly shown to be questioning its opacity in decision makings. The EU requires a deep understanding of not just being a constellation of states but if its worthy of taking upon a transparency that will evoke uncomfortable questions. That will be the mark of a democracy taking into account the people that the leaders work for can be counted on.
October 5, 2023
classic LvM
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews