Editorial

• Author: M. Poiares Maduro,J.H.H. Weiler
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0386.00068
• Date: 01 June 1999
• Published date: 01 June 1999

Editorial

M. Poiares Maduro and J.H.H. Weiler

The European Law Journal does things in a different way. Our readers will have

noticed that. The same is true when it comes to book reviews. There is no shortage of

book review sections in our peer journals and we did not think that adding one more

would be the best way to employ our energies and pages. We decided, instead, to

experiment with an Annual Book Review Issue. Our thinking was that, in this way, the

sum of the parts would be greater than the whole. Not only would our readers benefit

from a coverage of a wide range of books but they would also get a feel for the state of

the literature of the past years. In short, our ideal was to produce an issue that could

give the reader a quick and general vision of the state of the art of European studies

literature and would help to identify and shape the current debates addressed therein.

A journal issue that readers would want to buy and not simply consult in libraries.

Our plan was to invite several ‘leading’ scholars (meaning those whose approach

was consistent with the philosophy of the ELJ) to cover the literature in their

respective fields, to invite others to give in depth reviews of certain selected books and

then to have a slew of shorter, but incisive, reviews of other books. The first section is

composed of review articles which either offer a comprehensive perspective on the

development of the literature in a specific field of European studies, or address in

detail a current intellectual debate identified as particularly relevant in that literature.

The second section includes both general review essays covering the current

developments in specific fields of European studies and in depth single book reviews.

The final section includes a large variety of notes and short reviews.

A new format in a new Journal is not a winning formula! For example, even though

this is an English language journal and the issue will always reflect this fact, we would

have liked to have had a broader coverage of the literature in the different EU

languages. The fault is not just ours and we can put at least some of the blame on

publishers. To our non English speaking country readers: vi prego, alsjeblieft, vær så

god at, por favor, miellyttää, bitte, je vous en prie, etc. . . . help us obtain foreign

language books by encouraging publishers and authors in your country to send them

to us for review. We do not promise a review, but due attention will be given to all and

they will be listed in the books received section Being new, even English language

publishers were not always co-operative. ‘Who are you?’—was the normal reaction

from marketing managers if they bothered to react at all. Many planned surveys and

books did not get reviewed because of this.

Some of our would-be contributors also did not quite take on board that the

deadline for a Review Issue is a lot less flexible than the deadline for a normal book

review (if it does not go in this issue, it will go in the next). So we missed out there too,

as did some excellent books (our own, for example . . .).

But we are not discouraged. All beginnings are difficult and the end result, which is

before you now, though clearly falling short of our most ambitious dreams is a lot

better than our worst nightmares.

European Law Journal, Vol. 5, No. 2, June 1999, pp. 85–86

© Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK

and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA