This book investigates how transnational social forces and global capitalist shifts have fundamentally shaped the socio-economic trajectory of European integration. Bastiaan van Apeldoorn, a scholar of international political economy, utilizes a neo-Gramscian framework to analyze the power dynamics between transnational capital, political elites, and institutional structures. He argues that European integration is not merely an internal regional development but a specific manifestation of broader global capitalist restructuring that occurred during the 1980s and 1990s.

Experts recognize this work as a foundational text for understanding the intersection of transnational class interests and European institutional development. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is well-suited for advanced students and researchers in political science.