BasedonfouryearsofembeddedobservationinthecabinetofaEuropeanCommissioner,thisbookdevelopsasociologyofinternationalpoliticalwork.Empirically,itoffersaninsider’schronicleoftheEuropeanUnionbetween2015and2019.TheanalysistracesthesuccessesandfailuresofCommissionerPierreMoscoviciandhisteamonfiveissuesthatdefinedEuropeanpoliticsbetween2015and2019:theGreekcrisis,budgetarydisputeswithSpainandPortugal,theriseofpopulisminItaly,thereformoftheeurozone,andthefightagainsttaxevasion.TheaimisnottoascertainwhethertheCommission’spolicywasgoodorbad,buttounderstandhowpoliticalworkisdoneinaEuropeanUnionwherethe’spectacleofpower’isblurredby24officiallanguages,28nationalhistories,apowerfultechnocracy,andsometimesopaqueinstitutions.Asalife-longsocialistpoliticianandformerFrenchfinanceminister,PierreMoscoviciwasperhapsthemostintenselypoliticalcharacterinJean-ClaudeJuncker’sself-styled’PoliticalCommission’.Brandishinghisleftistidentity,rejectingtechnocratictalk,hesurroundedhimselfwithstafferssharinghisambition-butalsocriticalofhisactions.ShadowingthemfromthecorridorsoftheBerlaymont,theseatoftheEuropeanCommission,toWashingtonandAthens,ThePoliticalCommissionerthrowslightonthepartisanstrugglesthatshapedtheJunckerCommission,tensionswiththeEurogroupandtheParliament,andrecurringconflictswiththeMemberStates.Italsoshowshowpoliticalstaffersoperateinformallyandintheirinteractionwiththemediaandcivilservants,astheycraftandsellpublicpoliciestothepublic.Inthisethnographicnarrative,Frenchpoliticsisneverfaraway.DecodingtheEuropeanpolicyofaFrench,SocialistCommissioner,firstunderFran癟oisHollandeandthenEmmanuelMacron,thebookinvestigatesthedynamicsthatsometimesbringBrusselsandParistogether,sometimessetthemapart.TransformationsinGovernanceisamajoracademicbookseriesfromOxfordUniversityPress.Itisdesignedtoaccommodatetheimpressivegrowthofresearchincomparativepolitics,internationalrelations,publicpolicy,federalism,andenvironmentalandurbanstudiesconcernedwiththedispersionofauthorityfromcentralstatestosupranationalinstitutions,subnationalgovernments,andpublic-privatenetworks.Itbringstogetherworkthatadvancesourunderstandingoftheorganization,causes,andconsequencesofmultilevelandcomplexgovernance.Theseriesisselective,containingannuallyasmallnumberofbooksofexceptionallyhighqualitybyleadingandemergingscholars.TheseriesiseditedbyLiesbetHoogheandGaryMarksoftheUniversityofNorthCarolina,ChapelHill,andWalterMattlioftheUniversityofOxford.
