DINAN, Desmond 1957-

PERSONAL: Born 1957, in Ireland. Education: Attended National Institute for Higher Education, Ireland; Georgetown University, master's degree; National University, Cork, Ireland, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES: Office—George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030-4444. E-mail—ddinan@gmu.edu.

CAREER: Educator and author. George Mason University, School of Public Policy, Fairfax, VA, faculty member, 1986—, Jean Monnet Professor of Public Policy, 2002—.

AWARDS, HONORS: Outstanding Academic Book, Choice, 1999, for Ever Closer Union: An Introduction to European Integration.

WRITINGS:

The Politics of Persuasion: The British Policy and French African Neutrality, 1940-1942, University Press of America (Lanham, MD), 1988.

Historical Dictionary of the European Community, Scarecrow Press (Metuchen, NJ), 1993.

Ever Closer Union: An Introduction to the European Community, Lynne Rienner Publishers (Boulder, CO), 1994, revised edition published as Ever Closer Union: An Introduction to European Integration, 1999.

(Editor) Encyclopedia of the European Union, Lynne Rienner Publishers (Boulder, CO), 1998.

(Editor, with Laura Cram and Neill Nugent) Developments in the European Union, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.

Europe Recast: A History of European Union, Lynne Rienner Publishers (Boulder, CO), 2004.

(Editor, with Maria Green Cowles) Developments in the European Union 2, Palgrave Macmillan (New York, NY), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: Desmond Dinan is a public policy educator primarily interested in the history and politics of European integration and the European Union (EU). The Irish-born Dinan decided to work primarily in the United States because, as he noted in Public Policy Currents Online, "One can work on the EU in the U.S. and work better on it here than in Europe because of the access to resources and materials."

Dinan has authored or edited several books focusing on the European Union, once known as the European Community. In Ever Closer Union: An Introduction to European Community, which Europe contributor Peter S. Rashish called a "masterful examination of the history, institutions, and policies of the … EU," Dinan discusses controversial issues such as the future of the European Parliament and the contributions of former French President Charles de Gaulle in helping to develop a united European Union. In his review, Rashish noted, "One of the most important lessons to be drawn from this book is the continuity in the EU's development, despite newspaper headlines which too often lead the public to believe that the Union is lurching between Europhoria and Europessimism." Rashish also commented that the author's "lively prose—often worthy of a mystery novel when he recounts a looming political crisis—not only makes the European Union intelligible, but compelling reading as well."

As editor of the Encyclopedia of the European Union, Dinan includes numerous contributions from European Union authorities describing EU policies and theories, their creation, and their application. Also included are discussions on various institutions, policies, events, negotiations, treaties, and personalities involved with the EU. The encyclopedia contains more than 700 entries on the historical development of the EU. Bibliographic citations are included at the end of many entries, as well as cross-references. The book also includes twelve appendices that focus on such topics as institutional change over several decades, member states, the international security organizations, and changes to the treaties that established the European Community and the European Union. Dinan also provides a short chronology from 1950 of the EU's history, a list of abbreviations and acronyms, and a map of the region.

Writing in Reference Reviews, Bob Duckett commented, "At last, a real encyclopaedia! No fuzzy thematic approach, no pictures, no lengthy editorial heart-searching, no 'How to use this book' preface, no gimmicky boxes, no 'study aids', and no over-hyped blurb. Just a sober, straightforward, detailed, lucid, comprehensive, factual, indexed, and beautifully laidout, meaty encyclopaedia." Policy Studies Journal contributors Eleanor E. Zeff and Ellen B. Pirro called the book "a welcome addition to the growing and complex body of literature addressing the integration of Europe." They also noted, "Dinan's encyclopedia makes a big contribution to research on the EU, gathering together the most important information on the EU and organizing it into clearly written and manageable units."

In Europe Recast: A History of European Union, Dinan provides a chronological account of the European Union's development. Writing in Library Journal, Marcia L. Sprules felt that while the author fails "to give readers a sense of history in the making," the book will be useful "to academic libraries for its comprehensive treatment of an important institution."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Europe, September, 1994, Peter S. Rashish, review of Ever Closer Union: An Introduction to the European Community, p. 47.

Library Journal, May 1, 2004, Marcia L. Sprules, review of Europe Recast: A History of European Union, p. 128.

Policy Studies Journal, winter, 1998, Eleanor E. Zeff, Ellen B. Pirro, review of Encyclopedia of the European Union, p. 777.

Reference & User Services Quarterly, spring, 1999, Daniel K. Blewett, review of Encyclopedia of the European Union, p. 303.

Reference Reviews, Volume 13, issue 2, 1999, Bob Duckett, review of Encyclopedia of the European Union, p. 7.

online

Public Policy Currents Online (George Mason University School of Public Policy), http://policy.gmu.edu/currents/ (February 1, 2002), "Public Policy Professor Dinan Appointed to European Union's Jean Monnet Chair."*