Liberal Intergovernmentalism

2020 ◽  
pp. 61-78
Author(s):  
Frank Schimmelfennig
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism

scholarly journals Preferences, Preference Formation and Position Taking in a Eurozone Out: Lessons from the United Kingdom

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 525-541
Author(s):  
Hussein Kassim ◽  
Scott James ◽  
Thomas Warren ◽  
Shaun Hargreaves Heap
Keyword(s):  
Original Data ◽  
Financial Contagion ◽  
Preference Formation ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
State Position ◽  
Domestic Setting ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Societal Interests

In the literature on member state position-taking in the eurozone crisis, the debate has mainly centred on whether national preferences are shaped exclusively within the domestic setting or influenced by shared EU-level norms or interaction within EU institutions. This article goes beyond this discussion. Drawing on original data collected by the authors, it uses the UK’s experience to test the claims both of society-centred approaches, including liberal intergovernmentalism, and perspectives that emphasise the importance of shared EU norms or interaction. It argues that while the first overlook the role of institutions as both actors and mediating variables in preference formation, the second have so far focused on the experience of eurozone members, thereby raising the possibility of selection bias. Treating eurozone form as a series of processes rather than a single event, it contests the claim that preference formation is always driven by societal interests, highlights instances where government acts in the absence of or contrary to expressed societal interests, and reveals limitations of the shared norms critique of liberal intergovernmentalism. It shows that the UK government was driven by a scholars concern to protect the UK economy from financial contagion rather than solidarity with its European partners.

2. Theorizing EU Policy-Making

2020 ◽  
pp. 12-42
Author(s):  
Mark A. Pollack
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
Judicial Politics ◽  
European Union Policy ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
Union Policy ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Eu

This chapter surveys seven decades of theorizing about European Union policy-making and policy processes. It begins with a discussion of theories of European integration, including neo-functionalism, intergovernmentalism, liberal intergovernmentalism, institutionalism, constructivism, and postfunctionalism. It then considers the increasing number of studies that approach the EU through the lenses of comparative politics and comparative public policy, focusing on the federal or quasi-federal aspects of the EU and its legislative, executive, and judicial politics. It finally explores the vertical and horizontal separation of powers in the EU and concludes by looking at the ‘governance approach’ to the EU, with emphasis on multi-level governance and EU policy networks, Europeanization, and the question of the EU’s democratic deficit.

scholarly journals The Study of National Preference Formation in Times of the Euro Crisis and Beyond

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hussein Kassim ◽  
Sabine Saurugger ◽  
Uwe Puetter
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Preference Formation ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
European Union Studies

The aim of its introduction is threefold: We start from a conceptual clarification of preference formation, defining it provisionally as a political process ‘by which social actors decide what they want and what to pursue’. After an analysis of different conceptual and theoretical approaches, the introduction offers a critique of liberal intergovernmentalism, one of the major explanatory frameworks of preference formation in European Union studies. This critique centres on the context in which national preference formation took place during the European Monetary Union crisis. This special issue argues that the conceptualisation of preference formation as state-based, unidirectional and unchanged by the regime is deeply problematic. Preference formation is typically messy and non-linear and rarely closed to the possibility that both preferences and positions may change, sometimes radically, it is even more complex, context-sensitive, and open to a wide range of influences in a multi-level system such as the European Union. In other words, the traditional understanding of preference formation as a purely domestic process of interest aggregation and competition require revision given the multiple factors that shape preferences in general and in the interdependent policy-making of the European Union in particular.

Challenges to liberal intergovernmentalism

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 324-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Franchino
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism

Four Types of Japanese Regional Policy in the Perspective of Liberal Intergovernmentalism

2021 ◽  
pp. 002190962110491
Author(s):  
Jung Wook Son ◽  
Danbi Lee
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Regional Policy ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Winning Coalition ◽  
Strategic Choice ◽  
Ideal Type ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Regional Policies ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism

What are the determinants of Japan’s regional policies? This article argues that Japan’s regional policy is the result of the government’s strategic choice made through processes of domestic and international bargaining. Based on liberal intergovernmentalism, this article focuses on the level of domestic preferences for East Asia and the threat of China. In the first stage, the preference of the Prime Minister and political winning-coalition groups matter. In the second stage, the level of the threat of China is a pivotal variable. In combining these two variables, the article proposes the following four types of ideal regional policies for Japan: (1) pro-East Asia policy; (2) expanded-Asia policy; (3) interactive policy; and (4) reactive policy. To substantiate this idea, the article traces Japan’s regional policy trajectory from the Yoshida Cabinet to the Hatoyama Cabinet. An in-depth case study shows that Japanese cabinets vary in their regional policies in the way this article expected from each ideal type based on liberal intergovernmentalism.

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