Business and Politics in the European Union

Rational choice is one of the most influential theoretical directions in contemporary political science. However, rational choice has only been applied to a very limited extent by scholars working in the field of European integration. This book attempts to remedy this lack in the scholarly work by applying a rational choice theoretical model in the analysis of three concrete cases. Basically, the aim is to investigate and model the system of business-politics relations of the European Union, which have often been dealt with by scholars in a somewhat ad hoc-ocratic and non-theoretical way. Hereby, and most importantly, the book also attempts to further develop rational choice theory as a more general as well as a more useful and policy orientated theory of political science. Exactly the integration of narrative policy analysis into rational choice gives strength to both sides: Policy analysis becomes more driven by general theoretical considerations and rational choice theory gets out of the closet of sterile mathematical equations and sophisticated statistical methods and becomes, once again, relevant to a broad spectrum of scholars and policy makers. This book demonstrates that rational choice has a contribution to make to improve policy-making via three concrete policy case studies, in casu three business politics cases of the European Union. In short, by widening the domain of conventional rational choice and contemporary policy analysis, the book represents a significant departure for each. The author, Peter Nedergaard, holds a MSc. in Political Science and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Aarhus in Denmark. He was appointed Professor at the University of Copenhagen in 2008. Prior to this, he was Professor at Copenhagen Business School. Peter Nedergaard has published widely in international journals such as the Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of European Integration, Public Choice, Scandinavian Political Studies, Public Management Review and Cooperation and Conflict.