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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] Book Chapter, 2024

'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] Book Chapter, 2024

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 Journal Article, 2021

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 Book, 2019 URL

William Phelan, European Legal Integration: Towards a More Liberal Intergovernmentalist Approach., Journal of Common Market Studies, 56, (7), 2018, p1562 - 1577 Journal Article, 2018

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] Book Chapter, 2017

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 Journal Article, 2017

William Phelan, Diagonal enforcement in international trade politics, 2016 Working Paper, 2016 URL

William Phelan, The revolutionary doctrines of European law and the legal philosophy of Robert Lecourt, 2016 Working Paper, 2016 URL

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 Journal Article, 2016

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 Book, 2015

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 Journal Article, 2015

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 Journal Article, 2015 DOI

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 Journal Article, 2014

William Phelan, Supremacy, Direct Effect, and Dairy Products in the Early History of European law, 2014 Working Paper, 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 Journal Article, 2012

William Phelan, Open International Markets without Exclusion: Encompassing Domestic Political Institutions, International Organization, and Self-Contained Regimes, International Theory, 3, (2), 2011, p286-306- Journal Article, 2011

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 Journal Article, 2011

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 Journal Article, 2010

William Phelan, Can Ireland Legislate Contrary to European Community Law?, European Law Review, , 33, (4), 2008, p530 - 549 Journal Article, 2008

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 Journal Article, 2022

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 Review, 2021

William Phelan, Safety Valves and Complete Exits in European Treaty Politics, German Law Journal, 17, (July Brexit Supplmt), 2016, p93 - 94 Journal Article, 2016

William Phelan, The European Union's Next Nobel Peace Prize, E-International Relations, 2013 Journal Article, 2013 URL

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 Working Paper, 2013 URL

William Phelan, State Reputation as a Public Good, 2009 Working Paper, 2009 URL

W. Phelan, Open International Markets without Exclusion: Encompassing Domestic Institutions, Excludable Goods, and International Public Goods, 2008 Working Paper, 2008 URL

William Phelan, Why do EU Member States Offer a 'Constitutional' Obedience to EU Obligations? Encompassing Domestic Institutions and Costly International Obligations, 2008 Working Paper, 2008 URL

W. Phelan, Can Ireland Legislate Contrary to European Community Law?, 2007 Working Paper, 2007 URL

W. Phelan, Does the European Union Strengthen the State? Democracy, Executive Power and International Cooperation, 2002 Working Paper, 2002 URL

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

Keywords

European Community Law; European Political Development; European Union, WTO, and NAFTA; International Organisation; International Political Economy; International Relations Theory

Recognition

Representations

External Reviewer, Czech Science Foundation, Basic Research Grants Projects 2023 2022

Elected Member of the Executive Committee, Political Studies Association of Ireland (PSAI) 2017

Coordinator, European Union Legal Historians Network 2020 onwards

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. 2021

"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/ 2020

"Great Judgments of the European Court of Justice" included in Long List for the Inner Temple Book Prize 2022 2022

Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence for EU Law, Politics & Constitutional Governance, Director 2020-2023

Jean Monnet Chair in EU Politics and Law (award from European Commission) 2017-2020

Book "In Place of Inter-State Retaliation" Honorable Mention for European Union Studies Association Best Book Award 2015-16 May, 2017

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 October 2016

IRCHSS Research Grant, €38,000, for "Europe's Constitution: Encompassing Institutions and International Public Goods" 2008-2010

Memberships

American Political Science Association 2006 – Present

European Union Studies Association 2006 – Present

Irish Association of Law Teachers (IALT) 2017 – Present

International Society of Public Law (ICON-S) 2019 – Present

Political Studies Association of Ireland (PSAI) 2017 – Present