Since its inception the european union has been a fiercely contested and politically divisive project in recent years controversial issues such as eu enlargement the ratification of the lisbon. In 1988 german political scientist fritz scharpf published a seminal article scharpf 1988 in which he argued that the eu was characterized by a situation which is typical of many federal systems it had fallen into a joint decision trap in which the need for consensus and unanimous decision making among a large number of member states and institutions at the supranational level would systematically hinder innovation and lead to suboptimal compromise arrangements. Key controversies in european integration 2nd ed london palgrave in mid 2005 french and dutch voters rejected a proposal for a european constitution that had taken the member states of the. Key controversies in european integration release on 2016 08 22 by hubert zimmermann in the fully revised and updated second edition of this highly engaging text prominent scholars from around the world reflect on the current and future state of the european union author hubert zimmermann publisher macmillan international higher education isbn 9781137529527 category political . Key controversies in european integration the european union series 2nd ed 2017 edition by hubert zimmermann editor andreas dur editor 31 out of 5 stars 4 ratings