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For decades the European Union tried changing its institutions, but achieved only unsatisfying political compromises and modest, incremental treaty revisions. In late 2009, however, the EU was successfully reformed through the Treaty of Lisbon. Reforming the European Union examines how political leaders ratified this treaty against all odds and shows how this victory involved all stages of treaty reform negotiations--from the initial proposal to referendums in several European countries. The authors emphasize the strategic role of political leadership and domestic politics, and they use state-of-the-art methodology, applying a comprehensive data set for actors' reform preferences. They look at how political leaders reacted to apparent failures of the process by recreating or changing the rules of the game. While domestic actors played a significant role in the process, their influence over the outcome was limited as leaders ignored negative referendums and plowed ahead with intended reforms. The book's empirical analyses shed light on critical episodes: strategic agenda setting during the European Convention, the choice of ratification instrument, intergovernmental bargaining dynamics, and the reaction of the German Council presidency to the negative referendums in France, the Netherlands, and Ireland.

HISTORY / Modern / 21st Century. --- HISTORY / Europe / General. --- POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / Leadership. --- POLITICAL SCIENCE / International Relations / Diplomacy. --- Treaties --- Revision of treaties --- Treaties, Revision of --- Treaty revision --- Ratification of treaties --- Treaty ratification --- Ratification. --- Revision. --- European Union. --- E.U. --- Treaty on European Union --- European Union countries --- Politics and government. --- EU constitution. --- EU countries. --- EU. --- European Convention. --- European integration. --- German Presidency. --- Lisbon Treaty. --- Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe. --- Treaty of Lisbon. --- Treaty of Nice. --- Valry Giscard d'Estaing. --- agenda control. --- agenda setting. --- democratic deficit. --- demographic change. --- domestic parliaments. --- domestic politics. --- institutional arrangements. --- institutional reform. --- intergovernmental bargaining. --- internal conflict. --- judiciary powers. --- negative referendums. --- political leaders. --- political parties. --- popular votes. --- principal-agent perspective. --- ratification instrument. --- reform crisis. --- social tension. --- veto players.