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Sixty years after its invention, the operational system of the European Union remains little-understood. The ´Community Method´ provides a comprehensive empirical analysis of the functioning and achievements of the EU.

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PART I: INTRODUCTION The Community Method at Sixty; R.Dehousse Is the Community Method Still Viable?; G.Majone PART II: THE COMMUNITY METHOD AT WORK Law-Making in the Shadow of Judicial Politics; S.K.Schmidt The European Parliament and the Community Method; O.Costa Conflict Resolution in the Council by Linkage of Commission Proposals; T.König & D.Junge PART III: ALTERNATIVES TO THE COMMUNITY METHOD The Political and Security Committee: a Case Study in ´Supranational Intergovernmentalism´; J.Howorth Deviations from and Alternatives to the Community Method in Justice and Home Affairs; J.Monar Is the Open Method of Coordination an Alternative to the Community Method? PART IV: REVISITING THE DEBATE ON NEW MODES OF GOVERNANCE In the Shadow of Hierarchy: The Community Method as an Instrument of Government; L.Cram Social Europe: Why Hard Law remains Important; P.Pochet The ´Governance Turn´ Revisited; L.Boussaguet, R.Dehousse & S.Jacquot Conclusion: Obstinate or Obsolete?; R.Dehousse

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´A superb analysis of the workings of the EU by the most renowned experts in the field; strongly recommended for research and teaching.´ - Beate Kohler-Koch, Emeritus Professor of Political Science, University of Mannheim, Germany

´The "Community method" has been arguably the single most important substantive European achievement. A timely book revisiting a critical concept for the understanding of the past and possibly for moving ahead in the future.´ - Joseph H.H. Weiler, Joseph Straus Professor of Law and European Union and Jean Monnet Chair at NYU School of Law, USA

´The robustness of the European Union in testing times of course cannot be taken for granted. Yet this volume of thoughtful essays by leading scholars offers strong evidence that the ´Community method´ is alive and well and that policy-makers in the EU have found ways of adapting what they do and how they do it to the evolving context in which they operate.´ - Helen Wallace, Centennial Professor at the European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

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