Constructing Europe: the Role of Symbolic Policies Sonia Lucarelli Sonia Lucarelli is Jean Monnet Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre, European University Institute, Florence. Substance and symbolism : an anatomy of cooperation in the new Europe / Ian Manners. - Aldershot [etc.] : Ashgate, c2000. – x, 289p. What are the reasons for cooperation among member states in the European Un- ion (EU)? In what way can such cooperation be achieved in the post-Cold War European environment? Which theoretical approaches best contribute to explain- ing these processes? These are some of the questions Ian Manners attempts to answer in his Substance and Symbolism. The main argument of the book “is that intergovernmental cooperation amongst EC member states was achieved by agreeing insubstantial, but symbolic compromises [… and] that these compro- mises are now changing as symbolism is leading to substance in the early 2000s” (p. 35). This detailed, well-written book is not just a valuable source of empirical infor- mation on intergovernmental negotiations in five policy areas or a challenging application of different theoretical approaches to the same cases, but also pro- vides an original perspective on the process of European integration. The book therefore offers useful insight from the point of view of what Manners labels the “European knowledge” approach (mainly concerned with detailed empirical de- scription) and from that of “American rationalism” (offering explanations of member states’ cooperation that are “based on rationalised theoretical analysis”, p. 3), and contributes to various branches of international relations theory and European integration studies. Symbolic and apparently not-so-substantive coop- eration is demonstrated to be more relevant than one might believe in furthering intergovernmental cooperation and, eventually, European integration. Manners opts for a compound approach both when choosing his theoretical explanations and when selecting his case studies. In Chapter One, after having 91 THE INTERNATIONAL SPECTATOR VOLUME XXXVI, No. 4, October - December 2001