This book asks whether qualifying states who have eschewed EU membership experience negative effects on their legal and political self-governing abilities, or whether they manage their independence with few such effects. It explores the idea that the closer the affiliation a non-member state has with the EU, the more susceptible to hegemony the relationship appears to be. In addition, the book provides an overview of the total range of agreements the EU has with non-member states.

1 Introduction - asymmetry and the problem of dominance Erik O. Eriksen and John Erik Fossum Part One: Forms of association without membership 2 The EU's different neighbourhood models Sieglinde Gstöhl 3 The Swiss Way - the Nature of Switzerland's Relationship to the EU Sandra Lavenex and René Schwok 4 Switzerland - bilateralism's polarizing consequences in a very particular/ist democracy Joachim Blatter Part Two: Welcomed, inside, but still unwilling - two EEA countries assessed 5 Despoiling Norwegian democracy Erik O. Eriksen 6 The EEA and the case-law of the ECJ: Incorporation without participation? Halvard Haukeland Fredriksen 7 Iceland - A reluctant European? Baldur Thórhallsson 8 Norway's Constitutional Acrobatics under the EEA Agreement Eirik Holmøyvik 9 Representation under hegemony? On Norway's relationship to the EU John Erik Fossum 10 National administrative sovereignty - under pressure Morten Egeberg and Jarle Trondal 11 Reinforcing Executive dominance. Norway and EU's foreign and security policy Helene Sjursen Part Three: Sovereignty Under Hegemony 12 The United Kingdom, A Once and Future? Non-Member State Chris Lord 13 Hegemony by association Erik O. Eriksen and John Erik Fossum

Erik Oddvar Eriksen is Professor in Political Science and Director of ARENA Centre for European Studies at the University of Oslo, Norway.

John Erik Fossum is Professor in Political Science at ARENA Centre for European Studies at the University of Oslo, Norway.