"The Political System of the European Union sets out a new way of analysing, researching and teaching the European Union. Starting from the observation that the EU now possesses many of the attributes of modern political systems. Simon Hix argues that we should use the general theories and methods of political science to help us understand how the EU works. For each of the main processes in the EU political system - executive, legislative and judicial politics, public opinion, interest groups and parties, and regulatory, redistributive, monetary, internal security and global policies - the book introduces the key political science tools, reviews the latest theoretical research, and applies this knowledge in detailed descriptive analysis."--BOOK JACKET.