Cichowski/Börzel 9
Together, this overview of recent events in EU politics illustrates that the dynamic
between law, politics and society has increasingly engaged and directly impacted the European
public: a trend distinct from previous decades. Given the challenges of space restrictions, the
volume provides in-depth analyses of only a handful of these policy developments, focusing in
on the most significant and those most relevant to the volume’s theme.
Finally, the last main objective is to provide a unique and interdisciplinary approach to
studying the European Union by bringing together both legal scholars and political scientists.
Beyond achieving a more accurate science, this recent shift in EU developments necessitates
such an approach. Issues such as enlargement and immigration reform require not only a precise
understanding of an increasingly complex set of formal legal rules (the domain of legal scholars),
but equally important are the effects on ordinary citizens and political participation (the very
power struggles that concern political scientists). This volume seeks to integrate these two
approaches, not only by including the scholarship in a single volume, but by asking individual
contributors to think outside their respective disciplines. The division between the legal and
political, as many would argue, is often both artificial and unproductive. Our volume seeks to
bridge this divide.
In the following section, we suggest how one can examine and understand these new
developments in European integration. We argue that the volume’s theme, how the intersection
Convention