This book argues that contemporary European politics creates new forms of
transnational power that challenge the traditional parameters of the nation-state.
Kauppi identifies and critically explores the evolving dynamics between national
and transnational spaces, groups and knowledge, and suggests that European public
policies and transnational institutions like the European Parliament create new spaces,
types of knowledge and novel political practices.
Toward a Reflexive Political Sociology of the European Union is structured around
three parts. The first focuses on evolving transnational fields. The second explores the
changing role of academics and universities. The third section engages with the works
of Pierre Bourdieu on politics and the media. The issues discussed throughout the
book revolve around the challenges to the nation-state and of knowledge production
that is tied to it.
This book will be an invaluable resource to academics and researchers interested in
European politics, European Union studies and political sociology.

Niilo Kauppi is Research Professor at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and is Distinguished Professor at University of Jyväskylä, Finland.

Section 1: The Politics of Transnational Integration .- 1. Towards a Sociology of EU Politics .- 2. Exploring the Political Ontology of European Integration .- 3. Analyzing Integration .- 4. Constructing Transnational Fields .- 5. Political Legitimation and European Publics Spaces: Communication as Practice and Resource .- 6. Processes of Differentiation of Political Power in the EU .- Seciton 2: Reflexive Action and Knowledge Production .- 7. Intellectual Power in Europe .- 8. European Academic Identity .- 9. European Political Science and Global Knowledge .- 10. Academics as Politicians and as Operators of Global Governance .- Section 3: Bourdieuisian Meditations .- 11. Translation and the Politics of Circulating Ideas .- 12. The Secondary Reality of the Media .- 13. Pierre Bourdieu's Theory of Politics: An Interpretation .- 14. The Bourdieu Affair .- 15. Toward a Politically Theory of the Sublime .- Epilogue: Tinkering with the Future of the EU.