EU Reading List

[butchersapron]

I see there's been some discussion on the other thread. Good to know that the 65 000 word piece didn't need to actually be read to be dismissed and that he (apparently) says something very different from what he actually says over the course of those three long pieces.

 

[brogdale]

I see there's been some discussion on the other thread. Good to know what the 65 000 word piece didn't need to actually be read to be dismissed and that he (apparently) says something very different from what he actually says over the course of those three long pieces.

innit.

 

[redsquirrel]

Perry Anderson had two very long and detailed pieces in the last LRBs. Both brilliant examples of his olympian style and both well worth the time. The first piece outlines how the EU performed it's foundational coups through an examination of its current leading intellectual apologist (Luuk van Middelaar). The second looks at the how the institutional structures built on these coups have continued in the same vein. I suspect non-subscribers will only be able to see one of the pieces so i've uploaded the two here and here. I suspect a third on brexit itself and its waves will be in the next issue.

Finally got around to reading these. Just finished the first, very good. It really peels back the "European project". Have you read any of van Middelaar's stuff?

 

[brogdale]

There were always going to be old Nazis embedded, weren't there?

 

[ska invita]

article about Frontex here in the FT

EU immigration: Frontex faces scrutiny over its growing role

The European bloc’s first uniformed armed force faces allegations of helping to send migrants back to countries such as Turkey

www.ft.com

" the EU’s first uniformed law enforcement service " - plan is to have " 10,000 officers by 2027 "--- a dangerously unaccountable force
as you might expect there are " reports of pushbacks and non-compliance with EU laws on human rights and the right to access to asylum procedures. "

to get past the paywall click on first google link here

 

[The39thStep]

This is an interesting view on the politics that drives the EU .

Wolfgang Streeck, Ins and Outs — Sidecar

The EU bids farewell to Britain.

newleftreview.org

Ironically his sadly optimistic view of what the EU could be is very similar to the rose tinted view that continuity remain have of the EU

turn the European Union instead into a group of friendly sovereign neighbour states, connected through a web of non-hierarchical, voluntary, egalitarian relationships of mutual cooperation.

 

[butchersapron]

This is an interesting view on the politics that drives the EU .

Wolfgang Streeck, Ins and Outs — Sidecar

The EU bids farewell to Britain.

newleftreview.org

Ironically his sadly optimistic view of what the EU could be is very similar to the rose tinted view that continuity remain have of the EU

Streeck has just spent the last 10 years saying that this is/was impossible whilst still remaining the EU - that's what that really means. Don't read that as him saying this is a real possibility in the future - or ever seriously was before brexit.

 

[Nikkormat]

I recently read Democracy in Europe by Larry Siedentop. It was published in 2001, and makes for an interesting read now; he discusses the dismissal of nationalism by many liberals, and how the joining of former communist states might affect the bloc.

 

[butchersapron]

Finally got around to reading these. Just finished the first, very good. It really peels back the "European project". Have you read any of van Middelaar's stuff?

Sorry missed this yesterday, no i haven't. I may now on the basis of it always being useful to know what the enemy thinks/pretends to think.

 

[redsquirrel]

Sorry missed this yesterday, no i haven't. I may now on the basis of it always being useful to know what the enemy thinks/pretends to think.

Yeah that was my thought. Check it out to see the opposition

 

[redsquirrel]

Just finished part 2 of Anderson's LRB pieces. Even more than the first piece this is an excellent introduction to the EU, and anyone supporting the EU needs to address the points it raises. When even the pro-EU voices it quotes understand the anti-democratic technocratic basis of its organisation some people need to look deeper at the body they are cheering on.

In addition, pieces 1 and 2 demolish the nonsense Habermas' and co's idea of the EU acting as a vehicle for forming a European people.

EDIT: A perfect example of the cheering above being the idea of the EU protecting workers. Anyone coming out with this line needs to read Anderson's part 2, the use of different mechanisms to successfully demolish workers rights.