Can any theory fully explain the process of European integration? If not, why not?

Type :

Presentation

Pages :

13 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

01/13/2009

Category :

Political science

Sub category :

European union

Oboulo.com selection criteria

$ 19.95 Add to cart

Summary :

Introduction.
The two leading approaches of European Integration: Neo-Functionalism and Inter-Governmentalism.
1. The Neo-Functionalist theory.
2. The Inter-Governmentalist theory.
Ability of the new theories to explain the process of European integration.
1. The renewal of the Neo-Functionalist theory.
2. The Historical Institutionalist analysis.
3. The Liberal Inter-Governmentalist approach.
The future possibilities for European Integration.
1. An integration process stopped by two main European people.
2. The future of the process.
3. Creation of horizontal processes by vertical integration.
Conclusion.
Bibliography.

Abstract

european integration is a process which began with the birth of the european Coal and Steel Community the 18th of April 1952. This process was at first essentially economical, but the necessary structures needed for an economic integration led also to a political integration. This process has meant that the economies of participating states, and subsequently other policy areas, have been increasingly managed in common. Over a range of matters, national governments have now to take decisions with other governments, which imply a turn from "national sovereignty" to "pooled sovereignty" . Even the definition of "european integration" has created a debate between numerous scholars, a debate which opposed at first two main theories, neo-functionalism and intergovernmentalism, attempting to explain this process, both of them inspired from the International relations theories. While the intergovernmentalists emphasize the action between sovereign member states to describe the process, the neo-functionalists, considers others such as societal groups or european institutions as very important actors to explain the process. Lindberg, a neo-functionalist theorist, gave this quite neutral definition of political integration , "the process whereby nations forego the desire and ability to conduct foreign the desire and ability to conduct foreign and key domestic policies independently, seeking instead to make joint decisions or to delegate the decision making process to new central organs; and the process whereby political actors in several distinct national settings are persuaded to shift their expectations and political activities to a new centre."