European integration has turned the EU neither into a state in which authority is fully
centralized in Brussels nor is the EU a classic international organization in which member
states remain fully sovereign. Instead European integration is patchy. For some policies
decision-making authority still rests with the member states whereas for others policy-making
authority was transferred to the EU. Why does the EU's authority vary across policies?Taking
policies belonging to the EU's Area of Freedom Security and Justice as a sample Stefan
Jagdhuber theorizes and empirically analyzes why integration proceeded on illegal immigration
policy and judicial cooperation on civil law matters whereas it stagnated for legal immigration
policy and judicial cooperation on criminal law matters.The findings show that uneven
integration trajectories in the EU are likely when policy interdependence supranational
activism and domestic constraints differ across policies.European integration has turned the EU
neither into a state in which authority is fully centralized in Brussels nor is the EU a
classic international organization in which member states remain fully sovereign. Instead
European integration is patchy. For some policies decision-making authority still rests with
the member states whereas for others policy-making authority was transferred to the EU. Why
does the EU's authority vary across policies?Taking policies belonging to the EU's Area of
Freedom Security and Justice as a sample Stefan Jagdhuber theorizes and empirically analyzes
why integration proceeded on illegal immigration policy and judicial cooperation on civil law
matters whereas it stagnated for legal immigration policy and judicial cooperation on criminal
law matters.The findings show that uneven integration trajectories in the EU are likely when
policy interdependence supranational activism and domestic constraints differ across policies.
