Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union: Diverging Responses in Germany and the United Kingdom

“. . . offers a new insight into the relationship between Member States of the EU and the European Commission, by empirically testing two of the main theories of that relationship.” – Prof. Tim S. Gray, Newcastle University

“. . . valuable contribution to several scholarly debates – including the role and significance of institutions and institutional constraints on the formation of policy and stances and content of policy “discourses”, the intricacies of EU policy-making and the challenges pertaining to fisheries governance within a supra-national framework where the histories, traditions, cultures and preferences of stakeholders differ considerably.” - Prof. Knut H. Mikalsen, University of Tromsø

“The author has sought to answer theoretical questions; therefore this book will be an invaluable addition to any academic library that holds titles on European integration.” - Prof. David Welsh, Northumbria University

The author concludes that elements of the standard liberal intergovernmentalism and historical institutionalism hypotheses can indeed explain the stances of the domestic fisheries’ stakeholders, but there is some evidence of institutional and actor blurring, and institutional socialization in Germany and the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, it is argued that fishing is “high politics” in the UK, but “low politics” in Germany. This work argues that this might be explained by the way in which UK debates on fishing have been linked to the future of the European Union and, whereas in Germany these same debates on fishing have been linked to the future of the planet.

Abbreviations
Foreword
Preface by Prof. Tim S. Gray
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Theory
3. The Historical Context
4. Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) Policy Instruments
5. Science
6. The Fishing Industries
7. Politics
8. Conclusions
Appendix I: A short bibliography of the interviewees
Appendix II: Interview questions to UK stakeholders
Appendix III: Interview questions to German stakeholders
Bibliography
Index