Wolfgang Wessels
Biographic Data
| ID | 952385 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Wolfgang Wessels |
| GIVEN NAMES | Wolfgang |
| FAMILY NAME | Wessels |
| SIGNATURE | WESSELS W |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Cologne |
| ORCID | 0009-0007-3035-6197 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 242 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1985 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
German and EU Narratives on Turkey: More of the Same or a Turning Point after the Zeitenwende
German Claims for Leadership: From a Federalist to a Geopolitical Leadership Master Narrative
Ever since the beginning of the European integration process, Germany's role within the EU has been a contentious topic in political and intellectual debate. Following German unification, this has been further exacerbated by various crises. On the one hand, many have expressed concerns about power politics aimed at establishing a 'German Europe' or a 'European Germany', as Thomas Mann declared in 1953. On the other hand, voices across Europe have…
The European Council as a crisis manager and fusion driver: Assessing the EU’s fiscal response to the Covid-19 pandemic
As with previous crises, the European Union’s (EU) reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic has again highlighted the European Council’s pivotal role in the EU’s institutional architecture and development. In creating the ‘Next Generation EU’ recovery package in July 2020, it provided the Union’s main instrument for coping with economic damage resulting from the pandemic. In both the run-up to and aftermath of this history-making decision, the European …
A ‘Primus Inter Pares’ in EU Foreign Policy? – German Leadership in the European Council during the Libyan and Ukrainian Crises
First published online: 02 January 2020
Strategien und Szenarien zur Fortentwicklung der EU: Vielfalt und Komplexität
Las elecciones al Parlamento Europeo de 2014 y sus consecuencias. ¿Un paso más hacia un parlamentarismo a nivel europeo
En el nombramiento del presidente de la Comisión de 2014, el Parlamento Europeo se impuso al Consejo Europeo. ¿Esto implica un reajuste institucional hacia una estructura más parlamentaria de facto? Después de dar una descripción general de nombramientos anteriores, analizamos la investidura de Jean-Claude Juncker con enfoque en la nueva relación entre la Comisión y el Parlamento, así como en los procedimientos dentro del PE. Argumentamos que los…
Theorien Europäischer Integration
The Maastricht Treaty and the European Council: The History of an Institutional Evolution
Since its creation in 1974 the European Council has turned into the key institution in the institutional architecture of the EU polity. The Maastricht Treaty on the European Union was a history-making product of this body of heads of state or government. For the institutional evolution of the European Council itself the Maastricht Treaty confirmed and reinforced trends starting with the Hague summit in 1969. This article covers the pre-history of…
Politische System der Europäischen Union
Das politische System der Europäischen Union
Wer die politischen Realitäten Europas verstehen will, muss einen beträchtlichen Teil seiner Aufmerksamkeit dem System der Europäischen Union (EU) und dessen institutioneller Architektur widmen. Dabei gilt es insbesondere, die recht unterschiedlichen Formen zu verstehen, nach denen die Institutionen der EU für die Mitgliedstaaten und die Unionsbürger verbindliche Entscheidungen vorbereiten, verabschieden und kontrollieren. Mit wachsender politisc…
Making of a European Constitution: Dynamics and Limits of the Convention Experience
The Making of a European Constitution
The aim of this publication is an analysis of the process of European constitutionalisation and its entanglement with relevant national discourses. Thus, national constitutional traditions in Austria, France, Germany and the United Kingdom are evaluated with regard to the positions of the respective national representatives in the European Convention. Interviews with Members of National Parliaments and of the European Parliament as well as a cont…
Keynote Article: The Constitutional Treaty – Three Readings from a Fusion Perspective
L'esprit humain invente plus facilement les choses que les mots: de là vient l'usage de tant de termes impropres et d'expressions incomplètes’ Alexis de Tocqueville, De la Dàmocratie en Amàrique
Theorien europäischer Integration.
Germany in Europe: Return of the nightmare or towards an engaged Germany in a new Europe
Especially since (re-)unification, perceptions of Germany alternate between the fear of the return of the German hegemon and – at the same time – the diametrically opposed call for more German leadership based on Germany's outstanding pro-European engagement. Nonetheless, Germany's foreign policy has changed little since 1989: it is still cautious rather than assertive. Due to Germany's experience with the two world wars, German foreign policy pl…
Europeanization of CEE executives: EU membership negotiations as a shaping power
This article examines the impact of European integration on the central executives, i.e. the central government and the ministerial bureaucracy, of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia (CEEC-5) by distinguishing five stages of 'Europeanization'. The EU pressures candidates to reform their national administrations in anticipation of membership. These pressures are not uniform, but involve different 'mechanisms of Europeanizati…
Nice Results: The Millennium IGC in the EU's Evolution
Analysing the Treaty of Nice from a dynamic perspective we observe that the major decisions on institutions and procedures are part of an historical evolution of the EU's ‘legal constitution’; in quantitative terms the Nice results extended fundamental trends of the European process over the last 50 years. By increasing the complexity of the procedures and the modes of governance, the masters of the Treaty have again taken decisions according to …
Die Öffnung des Staates: Modelle und Wirklichkeit grenzüberschreitender Verwaltungspraxis 1960-1995
Die Öffnung des Staates: Modelle und Wirklichkeit Grenzüberschreitender Verwaltungspraxis 1960-1995
Bücher haben immer mehrere Quellen und Funktionen. Unmittelbar angestoßen wurde die se Arbeit von einer wachsenden Neugier an einem fast alltäglichen Phänomen: Die Viel zahl von Beamten, die häufige K
Comitology: Fusion in action. Politico-administrative trends in the EU system
Studying the administrative infrastructure of the EU is an intriguing affair. Comitology committees, in particular, are significant indicators for analysing and assessing the evolution of the EU's administrative system. Relevant integration-related theories, however, offer several diverging analyses and assessments of their function and significance. Some of the existing empirical data denote considerable growth in administrative participation an…
An Ever Closer Fusion? A Dynamic Macropolitical View on Integration Processes
To explain the evolution of the EU, a macropolitical approach using overall aggregate data is taken. Four dynamic views are tested: the neofunctional/neofederal assumption of linear growth; the realist view of decline; the governance/pendulum view of cyclical up and down; and the fusion thesis view of structural growth and differentiation. The article uses five indicators: binding outputs; scope enlargement of public policies; transfer of compete…
Rationalizing Maastricht: The search for an optimal strategy of the new Europe
Since the Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht treaty) was signed, the debate on the future direction of the European Union has been characterized by concern with its fundamental nature and purpose. This article contributes to that debate by first identifying four discrete strategic approaches to European development after Maastricht, and then suggesting a fifth possibility that offers a path forward through these conflicting attitudes by bot…
Jahrbuch der europäischen Integration 1986/87
Five Years of the Directly Elected European Parliament: Performance and Prospects
An Ever Closer Fusion? A Dynamic Macropolitical View on Integration Processes
To explain the evolution of the EU, a macropolitical approach using overall aggregate data is taken. Four dynamic views are tested: the neofunctional/neofederal assumption of linear growth; the realist view of decline; the governance/pendulum view of cyclical up and down; and the fusion thesis view of structural growth and differentiation. The article uses five indicators: binding outputs; scope enlargement of public policies; transfer of compete…
Comitology: Fusion in action. Politico-administrative trends in the EU system
Studying the administrative infrastructure of the EU is an intriguing affair. Comitology committees, in particular, are significant indicators for analysing and assessing the evolution of the EU's administrative system. Relevant integration-related theories, however, offer several diverging analyses and assessments of their function and significance. Some of the existing empirical data denote considerable growth in administrative participation an…
Europeanization of CEE executives: EU membership negotiations as a shaping power
This article examines the impact of European integration on the central executives, i.e. the central government and the ministerial bureaucracy, of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia (CEEC-5) by distinguishing five stages of 'Europeanization'. The EU pressures candidates to reform their national administrations in anticipation of membership. These pressures are not uniform, but involve different 'mechanisms of Europeanizati…
The European Council as a crisis manager and fusion driver: Assessing the EU’s fiscal response to the Covid-19 pandemic
As with previous crises, the European Union’s (EU) reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic has again highlighted the European Council’s pivotal role in the EU’s institutional architecture and development. In creating the ‘Next Generation EU’ recovery package in July 2020, it provided the Union’s main instrument for coping with economic damage resulting from the pandemic. In both the run-up to and aftermath of this history-making decision, the European …
Five Years of the Directly Elected European Parliament: Performance and Prospects
Nice Results: The Millennium IGC in the EU's Evolution
Analysing the Treaty of Nice from a dynamic perspective we observe that the major decisions on institutions and procedures are part of an historical evolution of the EU's ‘legal constitution’; in quantitative terms the Nice results extended fundamental trends of the European process over the last 50 years. By increasing the complexity of the procedures and the modes of governance, the masters of the Treaty have again taken decisions according to …
The Maastricht Treaty and the European Council: The History of an Institutional Evolution
Since its creation in 1974 the European Council has turned into the key institution in the institutional architecture of the EU polity. The Maastricht Treaty on the European Union was a history-making product of this body of heads of state or government. For the institutional evolution of the European Council itself the Maastricht Treaty confirmed and reinforced trends starting with the Hague summit in 1969. This article covers the pre-history of…
Keynote Article: The Constitutional Treaty – Three Readings from a Fusion Perspective
L'esprit humain invente plus facilement les choses que les mots: de là vient l'usage de tant de termes impropres et d'expressions incomplètes’ Alexis de Tocqueville, De la Dàmocratie en Amàrique
German Claims for Leadership: From a Federalist to a Geopolitical Leadership Master Narrative
Ever since the beginning of the European integration process, Germany's role within the EU has been a contentious topic in political and intellectual debate. Following German unification, this has been further exacerbated by various crises. On the one hand, many have expressed concerns about power politics aimed at establishing a 'German Europe' or a 'European Germany', as Thomas Mann declared in 1953. On the other hand, voices across Europe have…
A ‘Primus Inter Pares’ in EU Foreign Policy? – German Leadership in the European Council during the Libyan and Ukrainian Crises
First published online: 02 January 2020
Germany in Europe: Return of the nightmare or towards an engaged Germany in a new Europe
Especially since (re-)unification, perceptions of Germany alternate between the fear of the return of the German hegemon and – at the same time – the diametrically opposed call for more German leadership based on Germany's outstanding pro-European engagement. Nonetheless, Germany's foreign policy has changed little since 1989: it is still cautious rather than assertive. Due to Germany's experience with the two world wars, German foreign policy pl…
Rationalizing Maastricht: The search for an optimal strategy of the new Europe
Since the Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht treaty) was signed, the debate on the future direction of the European Union has been characterized by concern with its fundamental nature and purpose. This article contributes to that debate by first identifying four discrete strategic approaches to European development after Maastricht, and then suggesting a fifth possibility that offers a path forward through these conflicting attitudes by bot…
Five Years of the Directly Elected European Parliament: Performance and Prospects
Jahrbuch der europäischen Integration 1986/87
Rationalizing Maastricht: The search for an optimal strategy of the new Europe
Since the Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht treaty) was signed, the debate on the future direction of the European Union has been characterized by concern with its fundamental nature and purpose. This article contributes to that debate by first identifying four discrete strategic approaches to European development after Maastricht, and then suggesting a fifth possibility that offers a path forward through these conflicting attitudes by bot…
An Ever Closer Fusion? A Dynamic Macropolitical View on Integration Processes
To explain the evolution of the EU, a macropolitical approach using overall aggregate data is taken. Four dynamic views are tested: the neofunctional/neofederal assumption of linear growth; the realist view of decline; the governance/pendulum view of cyclical up and down; and the fusion thesis view of structural growth and differentiation. The article uses five indicators: binding outputs; scope enlargement of public policies; transfer of compete…
Comitology: Fusion in action. Politico-administrative trends in the EU system
Studying the administrative infrastructure of the EU is an intriguing affair. Comitology committees, in particular, are significant indicators for analysing and assessing the evolution of the EU's administrative system. Relevant integration-related theories, however, offer several diverging analyses and assessments of their function and significance. Some of the existing empirical data denote considerable growth in administrative participation an…
Die Öffnung des Staates: Modelle und Wirklichkeit grenzüberschreitender Verwaltungspraxis 1960-1995
Die Öffnung des Staates: Modelle und Wirklichkeit Grenzüberschreitender Verwaltungspraxis 1960-1995
Bücher haben immer mehrere Quellen und Funktionen. Unmittelbar angestoßen wurde die se Arbeit von einer wachsenden Neugier an einem fast alltäglichen Phänomen: Die Viel zahl von Beamten, die häufige K
Theorien europäischer Integration.
Germany in Europe: Return of the nightmare or towards an engaged Germany in a new Europe
Especially since (re-)unification, perceptions of Germany alternate between the fear of the return of the German hegemon and – at the same time – the diametrically opposed call for more German leadership based on Germany's outstanding pro-European engagement. Nonetheless, Germany's foreign policy has changed little since 1989: it is still cautious rather than assertive. Due to Germany's experience with the two world wars, German foreign policy pl…
Europeanization of CEE executives: EU membership negotiations as a shaping power
This article examines the impact of European integration on the central executives, i.e. the central government and the ministerial bureaucracy, of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia (CEEC-5) by distinguishing five stages of 'Europeanization'. The EU pressures candidates to reform their national administrations in anticipation of membership. These pressures are not uniform, but involve different 'mechanisms of Europeanizati…
Nice Results: The Millennium IGC in the EU's Evolution
Analysing the Treaty of Nice from a dynamic perspective we observe that the major decisions on institutions and procedures are part of an historical evolution of the EU's ‘legal constitution’; in quantitative terms the Nice results extended fundamental trends of the European process over the last 50 years. By increasing the complexity of the procedures and the modes of governance, the masters of the Treaty have again taken decisions according to …
Keynote Article: The Constitutional Treaty – Three Readings from a Fusion Perspective
L'esprit humain invente plus facilement les choses que les mots: de là vient l'usage de tant de termes impropres et d'expressions incomplètes’ Alexis de Tocqueville, De la Dàmocratie en Amàrique
The Making of a European Constitution
The aim of this publication is an analysis of the process of European constitutionalisation and its entanglement with relevant national discourses. Thus, national constitutional traditions in Austria, France, Germany and the United Kingdom are evaluated with regard to the positions of the respective national representatives in the European Convention. Interviews with Members of National Parliaments and of the European Parliament as well as a cont…
Making of a European Constitution: Dynamics and Limits of the Convention Experience
Das politische System der Europäischen Union
Wer die politischen Realitäten Europas verstehen will, muss einen beträchtlichen Teil seiner Aufmerksamkeit dem System der Europäischen Union (EU) und dessen institutioneller Architektur widmen. Dabei gilt es insbesondere, die recht unterschiedlichen Formen zu verstehen, nach denen die Institutionen der EU für die Mitgliedstaaten und die Unionsbürger verbindliche Entscheidungen vorbereiten, verabschieden und kontrollieren. Mit wachsender politisc…
Politische System der Europäischen Union
The Maastricht Treaty and the European Council: The History of an Institutional Evolution
Since its creation in 1974 the European Council has turned into the key institution in the institutional architecture of the EU polity. The Maastricht Treaty on the European Union was a history-making product of this body of heads of state or government. For the institutional evolution of the European Council itself the Maastricht Treaty confirmed and reinforced trends starting with the Hague summit in 1969. This article covers the pre-history of…
Theorien Europäischer Integration
Las elecciones al Parlamento Europeo de 2014 y sus consecuencias. ¿Un paso más hacia un parlamentarismo a nivel europeo
En el nombramiento del presidente de la Comisión de 2014, el Parlamento Europeo se impuso al Consejo Europeo. ¿Esto implica un reajuste institucional hacia una estructura más parlamentaria de facto? Después de dar una descripción general de nombramientos anteriores, analizamos la investidura de Jean-Claude Juncker con enfoque en la nueva relación entre la Comisión y el Parlamento, así como en los procedimientos dentro del PE. Argumentamos que los…
Strategien und Szenarien zur Fortentwicklung der EU: Vielfalt und Komplexität
A ‘Primus Inter Pares’ in EU Foreign Policy? – German Leadership in the European Council during the Libyan and Ukrainian Crises
First published online: 02 January 2020
The European Council as a crisis manager and fusion driver: Assessing the EU’s fiscal response to the Covid-19 pandemic
As with previous crises, the European Union’s (EU) reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic has again highlighted the European Council’s pivotal role in the EU’s institutional architecture and development. In creating the ‘Next Generation EU’ recovery package in July 2020, it provided the Union’s main instrument for coping with economic damage resulting from the pandemic. In both the run-up to and aftermath of this history-making decision, the European …
German Claims for Leadership: From a Federalist to a Geopolitical Leadership Master Narrative
Ever since the beginning of the European integration process, Germany's role within the EU has been a contentious topic in political and intellectual debate. Following German unification, this has been further exacerbated by various crises. On the one hand, many have expressed concerns about power politics aimed at establishing a 'German Europe' or a 'European Germany', as Thomas Mann declared in 1953. On the other hand, voices across Europe have…
German and EU Narratives on Turkey: More of the Same or a Turning Point after the Zeitenwende
European Union Policy and Governance (18 works) · Political science (17 works) · Law (12 works) · Law (10 works) · Economics (8 works) · European union (7 works) · Art (5 works) · International trade (5 works) · Politics (5 works) · Public Administration (5 works)