Thanks to new transparency rules and increased efforts by scholars, researchers are better equipped than ever before to analyze the decision-making processes of the Council of the European Union and to test old wisdoms. This book covers the most contentious areas and important debates in current research.

Introduction: From Rags to Riches; D.Naurin  & H.Wallace PART I: COALITION-BUILDING Voting and Coalitions in the Council after the Enlargement; M.Mattila Voting, Statements and Coalition-Building in the Council from 1999 to 2006; S.Hagemann East-North-South: Coalition-Building in the Council Before and After Enlargement; D.Naurin  & R.Lindahl PART II: CONSENSUS Veto Players Theory and Consensus Behaviour; T.König  & D.Junge The Mechanisms of Consensus: Coming to Agreement on Community Asylum Policy; J.P.Aus PART III: DELIBERATION Deliberation and Bargaining in the Article 113 Committee and the 1996/97 IGC Representatives Group; A.Niemann Risk Regulation, GMOs, and the Limits of Deliberation; M.A.Pollack & G.C.Shaffer Strategic Bargaining, Norms, and Deliberation; J.Lewis PART IV: LEADERSHIP The Power of the Chair: Formal Leadership by the Council Presidency; J.Tallberg Steering, but not Dominating: The Impact of the Council Presidency on EU Legislation; A.Warntjen The Facilitator of Efficient Negotiations in the Council: The Impact of the Council Secretariat; D.Beach The Relative Power of Member States in the Council: Large and Small, Old and New; R.Thomson PART V: METHODOLOGICAL DEBATE How Should we Best Study the Council of Ministers?; D.Heisenberg Neither Goethe nor Bismarck: On the Link between Theory and Empirics in Council Decision-Making Studies; G.Schneider