Lecture 4 (Week 39) - Theories of European integration Flashcards
Integration theory Neofunctionalism: what drives integration and what is the goal of the theory?
Neofunctionalism explain: how and why states choose to voluntarily mingle with their neighbors, which causes them to lose the factual attributions of sovereignty, and then acquiring new techniques for resolving conflict
Neofunctionalism describes and explains the process of regional integration with reference to how three causal factors interact:
The theory expect that the EU will end up as a Supranational organization.
Growing economic interdependence between nations
Organizational capacity to resolve disputes and build international legal regimes
Supranational market rules that replace national regulatory regimes
Positive spillover effect is the notion that integration between states in one economic sector will create strong incentives for integration in further sectors, in order to fully capture the perks of integration in the sector in which it started.
Steady progression on a federalist path..
Functional spill over Integration of one functional sector of their economies would lead to a spillover into other sectors.
Political spillover:Integration in one sector would not be effective without the integration of other sectors, interest groups would become advocates of further integration
Integration theory: Intergovernmentalism what is the key takeaways.
Nation states retain control over the ‘nature and pace of the integration process’.
States → independent actores, but their governments were constrained by the position of the state in the world.
It is an integration theory where the states participant preserves their national sovereignty.
- Decisions are made in accordance with national advancement and individual cost benefit analysis.
The integration process should be understood according to the individual state interests. Dominant power in the international system should be at state level. Dominant power in the international system should be at state level.
- Governments were uniquely powerful actors because they possessed formal sovereignty and democratic legitimacy.
- And integration in low politics sectors would not necessarily spill over into high-politics sectors.
There is constant debate whether EU should be a more intergovernmental or supranational organization.
Which parts of the politics is intergovernmental: where can see the veto right?
- Taxation
- Change in the treaty
- Social policy
- Energy use.
Multi-level Governance: The state role? the goal of the theory? what will drive integration?
Multi-level governance is the term for a political-administrative system, where levels are involved in the decision or administration of a particular area. The strength of multi-level governance is that you can let different decisions be made at the levels where the decisions are best made.
-> building on subsidiarity principle. (The European Union should take action collectively only when Member States’ power is insufficient.)
Meaning → Spreading the power on different levels.
This situation develops because many countries have multiple levels of government including local, regional, state, national or federal, and many other organisations with interests in policy decisions and outcomes. Overall decisions is influenced by a lot of actors which also influence the political decisions on EU level, national level etc. These actors can also influence the integrations process in the end. Power is distributed vertically and horizontally.
what drives integration:
States are key players, but pressures for integration arise at different levels. Informal means of integration also recognized. MLG mainly concerns the nature of the EU today.
Critics would argue it is not a theory and explains little (only characterize)
- Overestimates the significance of some EU institutions
- The strength of multi-level governance is that you can let different decisions be made at the levels where the decisions are best made. The weakness is that it is often difficult to get enough coordination between two or more levels.
- When the EU claims that the member states do not implement EU legislation sufficiently effectively, or when the state says the same about Danish municipalities, it is an expression of such weaknesses in a multi-level governance system. These are problems that one has to live with if one wants part of the management of public policy to happen close to the citizens.
How can social constructivism help us understand the EU?
- By highlighting agency and structure - deeper understanding of the impact of the EU on its member states.
- EU membership shapes the interests and identities of actors.
- Highlights both how the EU is constructed discursively and how actors come to understand the meaning of EU integration.
- Emphasize that individuals interests and identities are shaped by the social environment in which they exist, equally they argue, that the social environment is shaped over time by the actions of individuals (a two-way interaction)
How to achieve peace in Europe and to avoid nationalism of the ‘old order’?
Federalism
The federalists advocated a ‘constitutional break’ to replace sovereign states with a federation.
Explaining integration – What are its driving forces, how does it happen?
Neo-functionalism, liberal intergovernmentalism
What is the nature of the EU; how does governance work?
Multi-level governance
What are the consequences of European integration? – e.g. for governance?
“Europeanization”
Democratic theories.
In whose interests does the EU act, and which ideologies predominate?
Critical political economy, constructivism
Critiques of realism and neo-realism:
Consider states as the only meaningful actors in international relations, have a simplistic view of how national interests are formed, and have not taken on board the impact of globalization and regionalization on the
role of the nation state…
Neo-functionalism: Has trouble explaining periods of stagnation in European integration e.g. following the ‘empty chair’ crisis.
- Spillover between e.g. policy areas not inevitable.
- Little consideration of different national demands
- The role of the state has endured, while that of
supranational institutions – e.g. The EC – has varied over time
and according to policy area
Critique of Liberal intergovernmentalism?
- Appears to overestimate the degree of control retained by
states, to ignore transational processes, not to take on
board the supranational nature of much integration, and
to underestimate the significance of bodies such as the EC.
Critique of Multi-level governance?
- Some say it is not a theory and explains little…
- Overestimates the significance of especially sub-national
actors - There are too few cases where it applies..
- Overestimates the significance of especially sub-national
Explain Multi-Level Governance:
Concerns the impact of globalization, regional integration, and devolution on politics and where policy-making occurs.
Formed against a background of:
External challenges to the authority of the state:
- Globalization
- Regional integration e.g. in Europe
Internal challenges to the authority of the state
- Devolution
- Privatization/deregulation
- Fragmentation of central government
Multi-level governance recognizes?
The reduced capacity of the central government to act
autonomously
The significance of European integration and its institutions
The significance of devolution - e.g. Scottish, Welsh, Northern
Irish Executives, Autonomous Communities in Spain
The characteristics of Multi-level governance is?
Authority and policy-making is dispersed among different levels of governance:
Vertically:
- Global (UN, WTO, IPCC) - Global - EU (Supranational) - EU - Westminster - Copenhagen - English regions - 5 Danish regions - Sub-regional e.g. (South Yorks) - - Local councils - Local councils NB: Authority should not be regarded as hierarchically ordered
Horizontally:
- Fragmentation into government agencies
- Privatized functions
- Self-regulation by companies/trade associations
- Networks
NB: “Governance” rather than “government”
