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The Penguin Companion to European Union
Anthony Teasdale

The Penguin Companion to European Union

Since it was first published in 1995, the best-selling Penguin Companion to European Union has - over three editions - established itself as a key reference-point in the literature of European politics. Through a series of thematic A to Z entries, the Penguin Companion explains the ideas, institutions, personalities and policies that have shaped politics at European level since the second world war.

The book's entries provide definitive and accessible accounts of the history, institutions and decision-making processes of the European Union - and other international organisations, such as NATO, OECD, WEU and the Council of Europe - as well as of the national and international contexts in which European integration has developed over the last six decades.

In the fourth edition -  published in September 2012 - all existing entries are up-dated and a series of new entries are added on key developments since the mid-2000s - including the drafting and aborted ratification of the European Constitution, the new institutional power balance defined by the Lisbon Treaty, and the politics and economics of the eurozone debt crisis.

Following the death of Timothy Bainbridge in autumn 2004, Anthony Teasdale became co-author of the book once again, and agreed to take forward successive editions for Penguin.

Book Details:

  • Author: Anthony Teasdale
  • Published Year: 2012
  • Rights Sold
    • UK: Penguin
Anthony Teasdale

Anthony Teasdale

Anthony Teasdale is co-author of The Penguin Companion to European Union and has worked as a political adviser and civil servant in London and Brussels.Anthony took at a first in PPE and an M. Phil in Politics at Balliol and Nuffield Colleges, Oxford University. He served as Special Adviser to the Foreign Secretary (Sir Geoffrey Howe) at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Kenneth Clarke) at HM Treasury, and has worked in the general secretariats of both the EU Council of Ministers (EcoFin Council) and the European Parliament. From 2002 to 2...
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Book Reviews

  • "An indispensable collection of answers to every historical or factual question you could have about the highly complex institution which the British tabloid press manages to demonise into reductive, mendacious simplicity."
    Hugo Young
  • "I recommend this book to anyone wanting a comprehensive, well-balanced and well-informed account of today’s Europe."
    Chris Patten
  • "Required reading … It leads us with admirable clarity and lack of techno-jargon through the history, composition and machinery of the EC."
    Independent on Sunday
  • "The Penguin Companion to European Union stands out as a lucid and well-written introduction to the EU … comprehensive, accurate and readable – technical enough for the expert, yet accessible for the intelligent lay reader."
    The European
  • "This is a highly useful and affordable multidisciplinary supplement to undergraduate reading lists. Entries are excellent in terms of scope and clarity of treatment."
    Journal of Common Market Studies
  • "A sparkling addition to the sea of Euro-literature. … There is much to surprise and amuse, as well as inform. "
    Financial Times
  • "Teasdale and Bainbridge provide the best single guide to today's EU."
    Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council
  • "Everyone, whether Europhile or Eurosceptic, should read this book."
    Professor Vernon Bogdanor,
  • "  Opinions on the European Union, especially in the English-speaking world, are too often based on prejudice or hearsay. In the Penguin Companion, two experienced insiders at last provide the kind of precise information and analysis which is the pre-requisite for sound judgement."
    Professor Norman Davies, author of Europe: A History