The Muscles from Brussels

Professor of International Relations and Head of the Department of Historical and Social Studies at De Montfort University

From Rome to Lisbon and six to twenty-seven, the European Union (EU) has undergone a process of near constant change and adaptation. Today people tend to have fixed ideas of the European Union (EU): a large, distant organisation that intrudes into national life through unnecessary policies administered by unknown bureaucrats, or a prosperous group of 27 member states working together on common policies that benefit their individual and collective interests. Which is the correct view? In this lecture, Professor Alasdair Blair examines the implications of national governments transferring a great deal of their decision-making capacity to the EU level.

Alasdair Blair undertook his undergraduate studies at the University of Aberdeen and his postgraduate studies at the University of Leicester. He joined De Montfort University in September 2008 from Coventry University, where he was Jean Monnet Professor of International Relations. He has held academic posts at London Metropolitan University, Nottingham Trent University and Loughborough University, and has also served as Director of the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics. His specialist area of teaching and research is European integration, notably Britain’s relations with Europe. Alasdair is the author of eleven books, most recently The European Union: A Beginner’s Guide and Britain and the World since 1945.

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