scholarly journals 1. Introducing the Mosaic of Integration Theory

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Diez ◽  
Antje Wiener
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Critical Dimension ◽  
Normative Theory ◽  
Integration Theory ◽  
Policy Network ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
System Part ◽  
General Organization

This edition explores integration theory, its various approaches, and how they have developed. It consists of three parts. Part One includes approaches that explain European integration. Part Two deals with approaches that try to understand and analyse the European Union as a type of political system. Part Three focuses on more recent approaches that add a critical dimension to studying the EU. The approaches covered in this edition include federalism, neofunctionalism, liberal intergovernmentalism, the policy network approach, social constructivism, normative theory, and critical political economy approaches. This introduction makes the case for the relevance of theory when studying European integration. It also discusses the phases of theorizing European integration, along with the comparative framework that provided the guide for the chapters. It also provides an overview of the pattern of each chapter and the volume's general organization.

European Integration Theory

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Normative Theory ◽  
Integration Theory ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Governance ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
Emerging Issues

European Integration Theory provides an overview of all the major approaches to European integration, from federalism and neofunctionalism to liberal intergovernmentalism, social constructivism, normative theory, and critical political economy. The three sections of the text examine the topics of ‘Explaining European Integration’, ‘Analysing European Governance’, and ‘Constructing the European Union’. Within these sections, each chapter reflects on the development, achievements and problems of a number of approaches, and discusses historical and current issues of European integration. The concluding chapter then comparatively assesses the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and looks at the emerging issues. This edition includes two new chapters on European integration theory and critical theory.

European Integration Theory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antje Wiener ◽  
Tanja A. Börzel ◽  
Thomas Risse
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Normative Theory ◽  
Integration Theory ◽  
The Third ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
Emerging Issues

European Integration Theory provides an overview of the major approaches to European integration, from federalism and neofunctionalism to liberal intergovernmentalism, social constructivism, normative theory, and critical political economy. Each chapter represents a contribution to the ‘mosaic of integration theory’. The contributors reflect on the development, achievements, and problems of their respective approach. In the fully revised and updated third edition, the contributors examine current crises with regard to the economy, migration, and security. Two concluding chapters assess, comparatively, the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, and look at the emerging issues. The third edition includes new contributions on the topics of regional integration, discourse analysis, federalism, and critical political economy.

11. Normative Theory and the EU: Between Contract and Community

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bellamy ◽  
Claudia Attucci
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Normative Theory ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Integration Theory ◽  
Nation State ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Principles Of Justice ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the input of normative theory to European integration theory. It first provides a historical background on social contract theory in Europe, followed by an analysis of John Rawls’s work as a way to explore the contribution of contractarian thinking to the normative dilemmas confronting the European Union. In particular, it considers Rawls’s two principles of justice. It also discusses three approaches that emphasize the centrality of democracy and have informed normative assessments of the democratic credentials of the EU, focusing on the writings of Jurgen Habermas, the national limits to the EU, and the normative position that makes sense of the EU’s character as ‘betwixt and between’ the nation state and a supranational institution. The chapter concludes with an assessment of how enlargement illustrates both the appeal of the normative approach and the difficulties it faces.

8. Social Constructivism and European Integration

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Risse
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Subject Area ◽  
National Identities ◽  
European Identity ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
Contested Meanings ◽  
Agency And Structure

This chapter examines social constructivism as an approach to the study of European integration and a challenge to more rationalist approaches such as liberal intergovernmentalism and versions of neofunctionalism. It first defines social constructivism before discussing the constructivist emphasis on the mutual constitutiveness of agency and structure, along with communicative and discursive practices, in the context of the study of European integration. It then considers the question of European identity as a particular subject area to which research inspired by social constructivism can contribute, paying attention to the contested nature of European identity, ‘Europeanness’ and national identities, and contested meanings of Europe and the European Union. The chapter also analyses constructivist contributions to the study of EU enlargement and concludes with reflections on the future of European integration research inspired by social constructivism.

scholarly journals A Presidência rotativa do Conselho e a governança multinível europeia: a peça-chave no processo de decisão intergovernamental

2020 ◽  
pp. 21-38
Author(s):  
José Magone ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Integration Theory ◽  
Small States ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Council Of Ministers ◽  
Legislative Processes ◽  
Crucial Part

In the post-Lisbon constitutional architecture, the rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers of the European Union remains a vital part of intergovernmental decision-making. Its leadership activity is mainly behind closed doors to avoid the politicization of legislative processes. This study aims to contextualize the presidency as a crucial part of European integration due to its position between formal and informal processes. Informality gives the presidency time to create consensus and be flexible in its negotiation. Despite large countries’ attempts to reduce the importance of the rotating presidency, small states have resisted this temptation. In this contribution, the rotating presidency is seen from the point of view of European integration theory which is discussed in depth. Some notes follow on what can be expected in terms of the behaviour of the German and Portuguese presidencies in the new 2020-21 team presidency cycle.

5. Intergovernmentalism

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Cini
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The State ◽  
Integration Theory ◽  
Classical Approach ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
The Core ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
Stanley Hoffmann

This chapter examines intergovernmentalist integration theory, with particular emphasis on the classical and liberal variants of intergovernmentalism. It begins with an overview of the basic premises and assumptions of intergovernmentalism, focusing on its realist underpinnings and the state-centrism that forms the core of the approach. It then considers the specific characteristics of the classical approach associated with the work of Stanley Hoffmann, along with some of the ways in which intergovernmentalist thinking has contributed to different conceptualizations of European integration. Also discussed are confederalism, the domestic politics approach, institutional analyses that emphasize the ‘locked-in’ nature of nation states within the integration process, and new intergovernmentalism. The chapter concludes with an introduction to liberal intergovernmentalism theory, as developed by Andrew Moravcsik, and some of the criticisms levelled against it.

2. Federalism

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Burgess
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The European Union ◽  
World War ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
Comparative Federalism ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Second World

This chapter examines the relationship between federalism and European integration, with the goal of demonstrating the relevance of the federal idea to the building of Europe. It first clarifies some fundamental concepts such as federalism, federation, confederation, the modern state, and European integration. It then considers federalist theory and practice, along with three strands of federalism that emerged after the Second World War: Jean Monnet’s ‘federalism by instalments’, Altiero Spinelli’s ‘democratic radicalism’, and ‘integral’, ‘personalist’, or Proudhonian federalism. The chapter proceeds by exploring comparative federalism and the insights it provides on the future shape of the European Union, the implications of liberal intergovernmentalism for federalism, and the ramifications of the evolution of the EU Constitution for federalism. Finally, it assesses the questions that the challenge of EU enlargement poses for federalism and the federalists.

16. Enlargement

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana E. Juncos ◽  
Nieves Pérez-Solórzano Borragán
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
Geographical Expansion ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Euro Area Enlargement

This chapter examines the implications of enlargement for the shape and definition of Europe in general and for the institutional set-up and the major policies of the European Union in particular. It first provides a historical background on EU enlargement before discussing the enlargement process itself, with a focus on the use of conditionality and the role of the main actors involved. It then considers the contributions of neo-functionalism, liberal intergovernmentalism, and social constructivism to explaining the EU's geographical expansion. It also evaluates the success and prospect of future enlargement in the context of wider EU developments, especially the effect of the financial crisis in the euro area, ‘enlargement fatigue’, the domestic context in the candidate countries, and evolving relations with Russia.

scholarly journals Piecemeal Integration: Explaining and Understanding 60 Years of European Union Forest Policy-Making

Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helga Pülzl ◽  
Doris Wydra ◽  
Karl Hogl
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Forest Policy ◽  
Theoretical Spectrum ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
Stabilization Period ◽  
Blind Spots

This article looks at forest policy as empirical case study of European integration. By applying different theoretical lenses of European integration approaches (neo-functionalism, liberal intergovernmentalism, three institutionalist approaches and constructivism), it seeks to explain and understand the integration of forest policy in the European Union during the policy’s emergence (1958 to 1960s), expansion (1970 to late 1990s) and stabilization period (late 1990s to now). The findings clearly show that, to a certain extent, all European integration theories have their merits for the analysis. However, none of the employed integration theories alone can explain all the relevant aspects of the broader developments in EU forest policy. No individual theory can help explain why forest policy developed only incrementally and why it has been weakly institutionalized. This article, therefore, argues to combine them so as to establish a clearer picture of the driving factors and constraints. As each of the grand theories has its weak spots, it is further argued that scholars of European studies should work across a broader theoretical spectrum as only this would allow light to be shed on blind spots in empirical investigation over longer time periods.

The current economic and debt crisis in eurozone and crisis of grand theories of European integration

Human Affairs ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dušan Leška
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Euro Area ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
Banking Union ◽  
Common Currency ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
The Common

AbstractThe economic and debt crisis threaten many eurozone countries and the very existence of the common currency, the euro. The crisis has meant that some special mechanisms have had to be created (EFSF, ESM) and the introduction of special procedures in heavily indebted countries. The deepening of the crisis and the economic recession in the euro area have resulted in the growth of nationalism and anti-European sentiments in EU member states. Resolving the crisis, however, requires further convergence of the eurozone countries, the formation of a fiscal union and a banking union. At the same time, the crisis has shown that the grand theories of European integration, neo-functionalism and liberal intergovernmentalism, have failed to provide answers to the questions raised by the crisis, and this has led to the growing importance of social constructivism.

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