Review by Choice Review
This book is a welcome addition to the literature on contemporary opposition to European integration and the EU. Leconte (Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Lille, France) sets the book against the backdrop of recent threats to the EU's political and financial harmony; this new treatment of Euroscepticism is easily acceptable, draws effectively on relevant cross-national data, and boldly proffers arguments about the likely future trajectory of Euroscepticism and EU responses to it. Leconte's first objective is to disentangle the numerous definitions and potentially mistaken assumptions surrounding the concept of Euroscepticism; she achieves this by pulling from works across multiple disciplines. The result is a depiction of Euroscepticism as anything but ignorant, irrational, or advocated exclusively by disaffected groups at society's margins. Among the book's strengths is its effort to capture Euroscepticism's varied manifestations across different groups, namely elites, voters, media, and civil society. Readers may quibble with the author's decision to wait until the ninth of ten chapters to introduce a theoretical perspective to explain Euroscepticism. That choice may well benefit future research on the topic but leaves the preceding chapters without the organizing structure they deserve. That said, this is a solid and rich contribution. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels. W. M. Downs Georgia State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
