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More than the readers of most academic journals, those who regularly imbibe European Political Science (EPS) are used to seeing work published in these pages by those with experience of the 'real world' of policy-making (see e.g. Pasquino, 2005; Bruton, 2006). Not everyone in the academy believes that exchanges between that world and our world are productive ones, or at least not always. To illustrate the point, one of the most perceptive scholars of our generation1 argues that 'most academics are poor policy-makers. It is not our profession. Those other guys do it a lot better' (Begg et al , 2003: 16).
When one of the 'other guys' visited the University of Edinburgh in November 2006 to receive an honourary doctorate, he impressed upon his hosts that he very much considered himself an academic. In fact, on this occasion the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, spoke at length about how his formative years as a student and teacher of political science at Georgetown University, the University of Geneva, and in his native Portugal had shaped both his world view and political career. Specifically, he emphasised how important had been his involvement in the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR), which connected him to a network of scholars much wider and more diverse than would ever be possible to construct in any European country, let alone a small state such as Portugal.
Before leaving Edinburgh, President Barroso told the present author, 'we should do something together, something academic', without being more specific than that. After reflection, various ideas for possible projects were rejected such as (say) trying to replicate George Ross' legendary stint as a fly-on-the-wall for six months in the cabinet of Jacques Delors in the early 1990s (see Ross, 1995). Instead, it was proposed that a 'reading list' of the most influential works published on European integration in (say) the past 10 years would be prepared for President Barroso on the basis of an open poll of European Union (EU) academics. The list would be presented to the President several months before a scheduled interview, during which his views on the works selected - as well as his general perspective on the value (or not) of academic work for...