Dr. William Phelan
Associate Professor, Political Science
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
The Promise of Judicial Biography for the Study of the European Court of Justice in, editor(s)Rossana Deplano, Giulia Gentile, Luigi Lonardo, Tobias Nowak , Interdisciplinary Research Methods in EU Law: A Handbook, Edward Elgar, 2024, [William Phelan]
'Robert Lecourt (1908-2004): The Political Activist of the 1930s' in, editor(s)S. Vogenauer P. Bajon , Key Biographies in the Legal History of European Union, 1950-1993, UK, 2024, [W. Phelan]
William Phelan, The Role of the German and Italian Constitutional Courts in the Rise of EU Human Rights Jurisprudence: A Response to Delledonne & Fabbrini, European Law Review, 46, (2), 2021, p175 - 193
William Phelan, Great Judgments of the European Court of Justice: Rethinking the Landmark Decisions of the Foundational Period, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2019, 1-258pp
William Phelan, European Legal Integration: Towards a More Liberal Intergovernmentalist Approach., Journal of Common Market Studies, 56, (7), 2018, p1562 - 1577
Goodbye to All That: Commission v. Luxembourg & Belgium and Community Law's Break with the Enforcement Mechanisms of General International Law in, editor(s)Davies, Bill Fernanda, Nicola , EU Law Stories: Contextual and Critical Histories of European Jurisprudence, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2017, pp121-133 , [William Phelan]
William Phelan, The revolutionary doctrines of European law and the legal philosophy of Robert Lecourt, European Journal of International Law, 28, (3), 2017, p935 - 957
William Phelan, Diagonal enforcement in international trade politics, 2016
William Phelan, The revolutionary doctrines of European law and the legal philosophy of Robert Lecourt, 2016
William Phelan, Supremacy, Direct Effect, and 'Dairy Products' in the Early History of European law, International Journal of Constitutional Law, 14, (1), 2016, p6 - 25
William Phelan, In Place of Inter-State Retaliation: The European Union's Rejection of WTO-style Trade Sanctions and Trade Remedies , Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2015, 1 - 208pp
William Phelan, The Troika: The Interlocking Roles of Commission v Luxembourg & Belgium, Van Gend en Loos, and Costa v Enel in the Creation of the European Legal Order, European Law Journal, 21, (1), 2015, p116 - 135
William Phelan, Enforcement and Escape in the Andean Community: Why the Andean Community of Nations is not a Replica of the European Union , Journal of Common Market Studies, 53, (4), 2015, p840-856
William Phelan, The Limited Practical Relevance of National Constitutional Rights as a Constraint on the National Application of European Law in the Early Decades of European Integration, Irish Journal of European Law, 17, (1), 2014, p43 - 61
William Phelan, Supremacy, Direct Effect, and Dairy Products in the Early History of European law, 2014
William Phelan, What is Sui Generis about the European Union? Costly International Cooperation in a Self-Contained Regime, International Studies Review, 14, 2012, p367 - 385
William Phelan, Open International Markets without Exclusion: Encompassing Domestic Political Institutions, International Organization, and Self-Contained Regimes, International Theory, 3, (2), 2011, p286-306-
William Phelan, Why do the EU Member States accept the Supremacy of European Law? Explaining Supremacy as an Alternative to Bilateral Reciprocity, Journal of European Public Policy, 18, (5), 2011, p766 - 777
William Phelan, Political Self-Control and European Constitution: The assumption of national political loyalty to European obligations as the solution to the lex posterior problem of European Community law in the national legal orders. , European Law Journal, 16, (3), 2010, p253 - 272
William Phelan, Can Ireland Legislate Contrary to European Community Law?, European Law Review, , 33, (4), 2008, p530 - 549
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
W. Phelan, Review of The Ghostwriters: Lawyers and the Politics behind the Judicial Construction of Europe by T. Pavone, European Law Review, 47, (5), 2022, p723-727
W. Phelan, Book Review of Vera Fritz, «Juges et avocats généraux de la Cour de Justice», Irish Journal of European Law, 23, 2021, p289-293
William Phelan, Safety Valves and Complete Exits in European Treaty Politics, German Law Journal, 17, (July Brexit Supplmt), 2016, p93 - 94
William Phelan, The European Union's Next Nobel Peace Prize, E-International Relations, 2013
William Phelan, The Troika: The Interlocking Roles of Commission v Luxembourg & Belgium, Van Gend en Loos, and Costa v Enel in the Creation of the European Legal Order, 2013
William Phelan, State Reputation as a Public Good, 2009
W. Phelan, Open International Markets without Exclusion: Encompassing Domestic Institutions, Excludable Goods, and International Public Goods, 2008
William Phelan, Why do EU Member States Offer a 'Constitutional' Obedience to EU Obligations? Encompassing Domestic Institutions and Costly International Obligations, 2008
W. Phelan, Can Ireland Legislate Contrary to European Community Law?, 2007
W. Phelan, Does the European Union Strengthen the State? Democracy, Executive Power and International Cooperation, 2002
Research Expertise
Projects
- Title
- Europe's Constitution: Encompassing Institutions and International Public Goods
- Summary
- The project is to provide a new, generalisable explanation for the unique, 'constitutional' effectiveness of the European Union's transational legal order - an explanation which emphasises features of the democratic political institutions of the participating states. Current scholarship tends to explain the decentralised provision of international public goods among equals by tit-for-tat specific reciprocity - for example, the enforcement of WTO legal obligations through trade sanctions. In the EU, however, similar legal obligations - to follow international obligations which impose costs on organised groups - are followed even without tit-for-tat sanctions between the member states. This project uses Olson's theory of collective action to provide an explanation: while groups representing small constituencies have incentives to pursue redistribution of income at the cost of collective welfare, cohesive groups representing cohesive large constituencies - 'encompassing groups' - have incentives to unilaterally accept costs in return for the provision of public goods. If decision-makers are appointed by cohesive large constituency coalitions (as is pervasive among governments in contemporary Europe), the encompassing nature of these political institutions provides similar incentives to accept costs to support the collective good of stable international markets. The ability of the EU member states to reliably submit to costly international obligations even without state-to-state sanctions gives the EU legal system its 'constitutional' character. This research project therefore contributes to one of the broadest research questions of international relations theory - the provision of public goods outside the Weberian state - as well as the study of international organisation, international political economy, the politics of international law, and the politics and law of the European Union.
- Funding Agency
- IRCHSS, 38,000
- Date From
- 2008
- Date To
- 2010
- Title
- Jean Monnet Chair in EU Politics and Law
- Funding Agency
- European Commission
- Date From
- 2017
- Date To
- 2020
Recognition
Representations
External Reviewer, Czech Science Foundation, Basic Research Grants Projects 2023
Elected Member of the Executive Committee, Political Studies Association of Ireland (PSAI)
Coordinator, European Union Legal Historians Network
Awards and Honours
"Great Judgments of the European Court of Justice" included in "Legal Books of the Year" 2021 [Juristische Bücher des Jahres] selected by the leading German law journal, JuristenZeitung, 76 (2021), 991-997.
"Great Judgments of the European Court of Justice" included in EJIL Editor-in-Chief JHH Weiler's "10 Good Reads" for 2020 (in distinguished and diverse company) in European Journal of International Law 31 (2020), 1201, also at https://www.ejiltalk.org/10-good-reads-part-2/
"Great Judgments of the European Court of Justice" included in Long List for the Inner Temple Book Prize 2022
Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence for EU Law, Politics & Constitutional Governance, Director
Jean Monnet Chair in EU Politics and Law (award from European Commission)
Book "In Place of Inter-State Retaliation" Winner of 2016 "Brian Farrell Book Prize" of the Political Studies Association of Ireland for the best book published in 2015
Book "In Place of Inter-State Retaliation" Honorable Mention for European Union Studies Association Best Book Award 2015-16
IRCHSS Research Grant, 38,000, for "Europe's Constitution: Encompassing Institutions and International Public Goods"
Memberships
American Political Science Association
European Union Studies Association
Irish Association of Law Teachers (IALT)
International Society of Public Law (ICON-S)
Political Studies Association of Ireland (PSAI)