DOCSLIB.ORG

Intergovernmentalism

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Intergovernmentalism Intergovernmentalism MI CHELLE CINI Chapter Contents • Introduction • What is intergovernmentalism? • Hoffmann and his critics • Beyond classical intergovernmentalism • Liberal intergovernmentalism and its critics • Conclusion: the future af intergovernmentalism Reader's Guide This chapter provides an overview of intergovernmentalist integration theory, focusing ticularly on the works ofStanley Hoffmann and Andrew Moravcsik.ltfirst introduces tbe premises and assumptions of intergovernmentalism, identifying its realist underpinnin the state-centrism which provides the core ofthe approach, before examining in more the specific characteristics of Hoffmann's work. The subsequent section also examines ofthe ways in which intergovernmentalist thinking has contributed to different conce zations of European integration. The topics covered in this section are confederalis domestic politics approach; and institutional analyses that emphasize the 'locked-in' of nation states within the integration processoLast, but certainly not least, the chapter vides a brief review of Moravcsik's liberal intergovernmentalism, which since the mid 1 has become the main focal point for intergovernmentalist research. Intergovernmentalism 87 ntroduction m the mid 1960s to the present day, intergovern- intergovernmentalism?' This section outlines the ntalism-in one shape or another-has pro- general characteristics of the approach. The section ed students of the European Community/Union that follows introduces Hoffmann's early ideas; this a conceptual account of the European integra- section also addresses the main criticisms of his n processo For decades, students of European particular brand of intergovernmentalisrn, ation learnt about the two competing Hoffmann's groundbreaking insights into the phe- roaches which explained (and in some cases nomenon of European integration, together with icted) the course ofEuropean integration: neo- critiques of his work, led to new developments in ionalism (covered in Chapter 5) and intergov- European integration theory from the 1970s entalism. Although this dichotomy was onwards. Although these might not always be plemented by a new division, in response to the termed 'intergovernmentalist' in any narrow sense ernance turn' (see Chapter 7), intergovernmen- of the word, they are premised upon a 'state- , or rather, contemporary variants of inter- centrism' which owes much to Hoffmann's work. mmentalism, continues to dominate much of Important examples of these 'variants' of intergov- academic discourse on European integration. It ernmentalism are dealt with in the remainder of the this sense that one might see it still as the dom- chapter. The first highlights the confederal charac- t paradigm for explaining European integra- teristics of the European Union (EU). The second at the start of the twenty-first century, even if draws attention to the importance of domestic poli- researchers into EU politics might contest this tics; while the third groups together a more institu- tionalist kind of research that shows how states, still . chapter provides a general introduction to central actors, become 'locked into' the European arguments and critiques of intergovernmental- integration processo The final section-and perhaps ry. It does so by focusing on the works of the most crucial-Iooks at the work of Andrew Hoffmann (whose early writings date from Moravcsik and more specificaliy at his 'liberal inter- 960s), and Andrew Moravcsik (who began to governrnentalist' (LI) theory ofEuropean integration. an impact on the field in the early 1990s). It Although this is an extremely rich and influential packs some of the premises and assumptions theory, LI has been widely criticized. Some of these inning intergovernmentalist thinking. The criticisms are addressed towards the end of the er begins by addressing the question: 'What is chapter. at is intergovernmentalism? vernrnentalism provides a conceptual expla- fundamental issues of national sovereignty, and of the European integration processo In this argues that 'European integration is driven by the t, intergovernmentalism is characterized by interests and actions of nation states' (Hix -centrism. In other words, intergovernmen- 1999: 15). privileges the role of (national) states within Intergovernrnentalism is drawn, whether explicitly integration. It sees integration as a zero- or implicitly, from classical theories of international e in which the winner takes ali, claims that relations, and, most notably, from realist or neo- ited to policy areas that do not touch on realist analyses of inter-state bargaining. Realism 88 Michelle Cini also makes the assumption that states have their .~ KEY CONCEPTS AND TERMS 6.1 distinctive problems and concerns, and that inengaging face very different internal ircumstances. This m - =- to pro~ Intergovernmentalism astheory and method ~1 that their policy preferences (or interests) will peranon w In this chapter, intergovernmentalism is defined as a fail to converge. As a consequence, any attem serva tive an theory of European integration. What this implies is that build a community beyond the state will be fra intergovernmentalism is an approach that explains what European integration (ar European cooperation) is. with difficulties, and may even intensify the sense Intergovernmentalism may also serve as a model of difference felt across state borders. Néo-n European integration. This is something rather different. accept that international institutions of ali kinds This sort of intergovernmentalism is prescriptive in the established to reduce the level of anarchy within sense that it is likely to advocate reducing the role ofthe states system, and see the European Union as - supranational institutions (European Commission, another of these institutions, albeit within a .. European Parliament, and the Courts) in favour of a greater role for the European Council and EU Council, institutionalized setting. While neo-realists have representing national governments.lt might also imply a been particularly interested in any explicit w; reinstatement of unanimous voting in the Council and European integration (yet see de Grieco 1995, 1 the repatriation of European policies to the national their influence on intergovernmentalism is leveI. (Rosamond 2000: 132). It should be stressed h ever, that intergovernmentalism and (neo- )re are not synonymous (Church 1996: 25). incorporates the claim that international politics Intergovernmentalism is not just associated concerns the interaction of self-interested states in EU politics. It also refers to a type of decisi an anarchic environment, where there is no global making that occurs within ali internatio authoritycapable of securing order (Morganthau organizations. lnternational organizations are int 1985). From this perspective, states are rational, governmental bodies, in that they serve as arenas unitary actors that define their interests based on an which states meet to discuss common issues, evaluation of their position in the system of states share ideas and to negotiate agreements. They (Rosamond 2000: 131). State interest is, therefore, usualiy based on international treaties, and mem- primarily about survival, with other concerns, such bership is voluntary. They tend not to have pow as economic growth, of secondary importance. of taxation, and rely therefore on member-s Thus the theory 'is centred on the view that nation contributions for their operation. Generaliy, tb states are the key actors in international affairs and do not have independent powers, and usualiy find - the key political relations between states are chan- difticult to enforce decisions where individ nelied primarily via national governments' (Nugent members are recalcitrant (McCormick 2002: 4 1999: 509). While some international organizations stray fro Neo-realism (Waltz 1979), like realism, sees states this model, intergovernmentalists apply this kind as self-regarding actors co-existing in an anarchical framework to their understanding of the European system. However, it also understands that there is Union, albeit with some modification. some potential for order, on the basis of interna- According to intergovernmentalists, there are co tional cooperation (see Axelrod 1984; Keohane and benefits attached to involvement in Europ 1988) if only as a rational means to state survival. integration. (Note, however, that intergovernmental- According to neo-realists, regimes are arenas for the ists may prefer to talk ofEuropean cooperation, rather negotiation of zero-sum agreements, with the out- than of integration). Participation in cooperation comes of those negotiations shaped by the distribu- this kind will rest on a weighing up of the pros tion of state power within the regime. Yet,despite the cons of membership and on the extent to whi promise of international cooperation, neo-realism European integration improves the efficiency Intergovernmentalism 89 gains struck among its member states. The main {1 CASE STUDY 6.2 in engaging in this qualitative cost-benefit anal- . is to protect their national interests. The European rescue ofthe nation state Cooperation within the EU, then, is essentially nservative and pragmatic. It rests on the premise In his book The European Rescue af the Natian State (1992), the economic historian Alan Milward analysed t common solutions are often needed to resolve European integration in the 1940s and 1950s. He argued mmon problems. To put it another way, coopera- that the European integration process
Load more

Recommended publications
  • UNU/CRIS E-Occasional Papers O-2003/5 Is There a Comparative
    UNU/CRIS e-Occasional Papers O-2003/5 Is There a Comparative Perspective between the European Union and NAFTA? Alejandro Chanona* * Director of the Center Of European Studies, National University of Mexico, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences ([email protected]) Is There a Comparative Perspective between the European Union and NAFTA? Introduction In 1991, a Conference was held in London regarding the launching of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). A member of the audience asked the speaker if he considered whether there was any chance for the NAFTA to be like the European Community; the answer was negative. The NAFTA was seen since its beginning as a simple Free Trade Agreement, maybe similar to an EFTA, rather than as a potential community. Time has proven that the respectable scholar was wrong; however, we cannot blame him for thinking like that. On the contrary, it was pretty ambitious to consider that NAFTA could take a step beyond what a FTA involves, theoretically speaking. There are currently several expectations around NAFTA that clearly foresee something beyond a simple FTA. Moreover, there are several analytical studies of a comparative nature, with the EU as the standard of comparison, that raise doubt over the idea of a North American Community1. If we agree that the NAFTA is a region in the making and its objectives tend to be overtaken by the dynamics of the region, we are in business. North America has become a real region for security reasons, for economic advantages and for political interests. The point is whether the NAFTA represents a distinctive model or its evolution reveals common features with the European experience.
    [Show full text]
  • Regional Integration and the Evolution of the European Polity: on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Journal of Common
    JOBNAME: No Job Name PAGE: 1 SESS: 16 OUTPUT: Thu Nov 17 21:19:10 2011 SUM: 7E087AC6 /v2451/blackwell/journals/JCMS_v50_is1/jcms_2224 JCMS 2012 Volume 50. Number S1. pp. 1–17 Regional Integration and the Evolution of the European Polity: On the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Journal of Common Market Studiesjcms_2224 1..18 WALTER MATTLI AND ALEC STONE SWEET Introduction This special issue commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the Journal of Common Market Studies. Over five decades, the journal has charted the deep transformations wrought by integration in Europe: of markets and economic organization; law and courts; party systems and interest group politics; and of regulation, both public and private. Along the way, scholarship on the EC/EU gradually turned to the pervasive impact of integration and supranational governance on national structures; to how the various levels of decision making interact to produce and implement policy; and to public opinion, cultural identity and the deep normative questions concerning how to assess the political legitimacy of the EU. Once catering to a relatively small community of specialists, there is now virtually no important strain of social scientific, legal or historical research on contemporary Europe that falls outside the journal’s purview. Arguably, JCMS is the most important and successful interdisciplinary forum for the publication of research on any single polity – in this case, the European Union. Although much has changed, major themes developed in this special issue found expression in the early journal. The first twenty issues (1962–1967) contained articles on voting procedures (Sidjanski, 1962), the state of public opinion on the European Com- munity (Gallup, 1963); the concept and practice of ‘supranational’ authority (Rosenstiel, 1963; Deutsch, 1963); and supposed distinctions between the process of ‘functional integration’ and that of federalization (Mitrany 1965).
    [Show full text]
  • Reforming Multilateralism in Post-Covid Times
    ited for A NEW MULTILATERALISM EDITED BY MARIO TELÒ REFORMING MULTILATERALISM IN POST-COVID TIMES FOR A MORE REGIONALISED, BINDING AND LEGITIMATE UNITED NATIONS EDITED BY Mario Telò REFORMING MULTILATERALISM IN POST-COVID TIMES IN POST-COVID REFORMING MULTILATERALISM PUBLISHED IN DECEMBER 2020 BY Foundation for European Progressive Studies Avenue des Arts 46 B-1000 Brussels, Belgium +32 2 234 69 00 [email protected] www.feps-europe.eu @FEPS_Europe EDITOR AND PROJECT SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR Mario Telò LEADER OF THE PROJECT Maria João Rodrigues, President, Foundation for European Progressive Studies FEPS COORDINATORS OF THE PROJECT Hedwig Giusto, Susanne Pfeil IAI COORDINATOR OF THE PROJECT Ettore Greco COPYRIGHT © 2020 Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) PROOFREADING AND COPY EDITING Nicky Robinson GRAPHIC DESIGN Triptyque.be COVER PHOTO Shutterstock PRINTED BY Oficyna Wydawnicza ASPRA-JR Published with the financial support of the European Parliament. The views expressed in this report are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Parliament. ISBN 978-2-930769-46-2 PROJECT PARTNERS FRIEDRICH-EBERT-STIFTUNG NEW YORK OFFICE 747 Third Avenue, Suite 34D, New York, NY 10017, United States +1 (212) 687-0208 [email protected] https://www.feps-europe.eu @fesnewyork FONDATION JEAN-JAURÈS 12 Cité Malesherbes, 75009 Paris, France +33 (0)1 40 23 24 00 https://jean-jaures.org [email protected] @j_jaures CENTRO STUDI DI POLITICA INTERNAZIONALE (CeSPI) Piazza Venezia 11, 00187 Roma, Italy +39
    [Show full text]
  • European Integration (Theory) in Times of Crisis a Comparison of the Euro and Schengen Crises
    European Integration (Theory) in Times of Crisis A comparison of the Euro and Schengen crises Frank Schimmelfennig, ETH Zürich, [email protected] Abstract The European Union has gone through major crises of its two flagship projects of the 1990s: the Euro and Schengen. Both crises had structurally similar causes and beginnings: exogenous shocks exposed the functional shortcomings of both integration projects and produced sharp distributional conflict among governments as well as an unprecedented politicization of European integration in member state societies. Yet they have resulted in significantly different outcomes: whereas the Euro crisis has brought about a major deepening of integration, the Schengen crisis has not. I put forward a neofunctionalist explanation of these different outcomes, which emphasizes variation in transnational interdependence and supranational capacity across the two policy areas. Acknowledgments For comments on previous versions of the paper, I thank audiences at an ACCESS EUROPE seminar at VU Amsterdam, the 2017 annual conference of the Swiss Political Science Association in St. Gallen, the 2017 EUSA Convention in Miami, and the Euro-CEFG workshop at the University of Rotterdam. Special thanks to Klaus Armingeon, Ben Crum, Madeleine Hosli, Matthias Mattijs, Thomas Spijkerboer, and Jonathan Zeitlin. Introduction The European Union (EU) has come to operate in crisis mode permanently. When the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force in December 2009, the EU finally appeared to have achieved institutional consolidation after the failure of the Constitutional Treaty. Around the same time, however, the mounting Greek balance-of-payment problem signaled the start of the Euro crisis. As soon as “Grexit” was averted in dramatic negotiations in July 2015, the migration flow across the Aegean Sea spiraled out of control, triggering a crisis of the Schengen regime of free movement across internal EU borders.
    [Show full text]
  • 2 Bringing Constructivist Integration Theory out of the Clouds: Has It Landed Yet? Andrew Moravcsik
    04 Forum (jr/d) 3/5/01 11:29 am Page 226 226 European Union Politics 2(2) my loosely positivist epistemology, the strong emphasis on agency, the neglect of recursive practices. Clearly, this middle way loses part of the constructivist train (Joergensen, 1997; Diez, 1999: 363–4). My micro-focus limits what can be said about collective identity formation in Europe (Marcussen et al., 1999), or about processes of state/international socialization (Adler and Barnett, 1998: chs 1, 2). Moreover, I am unable to capture fully the mutually constitu- tive dynamics between my persuading agents and broader social structures because of my epistemological stance. Thinking in terms of variables and causal process tracing requires something be held constant for the analysis to proceed. My response to such concerns is two-fold. Theoretically, the approach should be viewed as supplying much-needed micro-foundational building blocks for more sweeping—and often heuristic—constructivist arguments about collective identity formation or state learning (also Checkel, 2001b). Practically, my response is ‘so what?’ The concern here is to develop oper- ationalizeable social science theory (built on positivist or more interpretative epistemologies), and not social theory. My strong sense is that constructivism still has too much of the latter and not enough of the former. So, indeed, I have lost something. But I have gained the beginnings of a testable con- structivist research programme, which addresses an issue of central concern to Europeanists, and does so in a way that promotes dialogue with both rational choice and interpretative scholars (also Risse and Wiener, 1999: 775–7).
    [Show full text]
  • Theorizing Regionalism: Cooperation, Integration, and Governance by Tanja A
    Theorizing Regionalism: Cooperation, Integration, and Governance by Tanja A. Börzel Prepared for Tanja A. Börzel/Thomas Risse (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Comparative Regionalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, in prep.) “[W]ith the exception of European institutions, regional institutions have occupied a small and insignificant part of the overall theoretical literature on international institutions” (Acharya and Johnston 2007a: 2). The end of the Cold War saw a surge in regionalism. While the number of preferential trading agreements (PTA) exploded (Mansfield and Pevehouse 2013), long-standing regional organizations, such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) or the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), experienced the delegation of more political authority and policy competencies in the past two decades (Börzel 2013). These two trends of more and deeper regionalism, respectively, are often attributed to processes of diffusion or interdependent decision-making. Regional cooperation and integration spread across time and space once the constraints of geopolitics had ceased to exist (Risse in this volume). This chapter explores how mainstream theories of regional cooperation and integration account for the changes in the quantity and quality of regionalism.1 Unlike diffusion, these theories implicitly or explicitly conceptualize regionalism as driven by independent decision- making of regional actors responding to causal factors located within or outside the region. The chapter starts by arguing that the dominant theories of regional cooperation and integration share a bias towards taking states as the main drivers of regionalism and 1 Critical theories to regionalism, such as the World Oder Approach, are dealt with by the chapters on new regionalism (Söderbaum in this volume) and non-Western approaches (Acharya in this volume) Börzel Theories of Cooperation, Integration and Governance focusing on processes of formal institution-building at the regional level.
    [Show full text]
  • APPENDIX Is Liberal Intergovernmentalism Regressive?
    APPENDIX Is Liberal Intergovernmentalism Regressive? Table of Contents 1. Quality of evidence p.1 2. Charles De Gaulle, Memoirs of Hope: Renewal and Endeavor p.5 3. Jean Lacouture, De Gaulle the Ruler p.11 4. Miriam Camps, European Unification in the 1960s: From the Veto to the Crisis p.16 5. Lord Gladwyn, The Memoirs of Lord Gladwyn p.19 6. Susanne Bodenheimer, Political Union: A Microcosm of European Politics p.22 7. Paul-Henri Spaak, The Continuing Battle: Memoirs of a European p.26 8. Wolfram Kaiser, Using Europe, Abusing the European p.31 9. John Campbell, Edward Heath, A Biography p.35 10. Alfred Grosser, French Foreign Policy Under de Gaulle p.38 11. France: De Gaulle’s deliberate deception? p.43 This appendix probes key sources that Andrew Moravcsik uses in the Choice for Europe to advance a liberal intergovernmentalist theory of European integration.1 The core claims of CfE are that the institutional structure of the European Union is determined by intergovernmental bargaining, that governments are motivated chiefly by economics not geopolitics, and that governments do so in response to the demands of producer groups. By arguing that international negotiation is the key to explaining European treaties and by placing international negotiation in the context of domestic interest aggregation, the book gave legitimacy to a field – diplomacy – that appeared out of touch with contemporary political science. The book argues against the dominant view that diplomacy was oriented to power politics. Moravcsik (AM) argues that negotiations are undertaken by ‘national leaders who consistently pursued economic interests—primarily the commercial interests of powerful economic producers and secondarily the macroeconomic preferences of ruling governmental coalitions’ (CfE: 3).
    [Show full text]
  • A Liberal Intergovernmentalist and Neofunctionalist Explanation of the Fiscal Pact
    Austerity for All A Liberal Intergovernmentalist and Neofunctionalist Explanation of the Fiscal Pact Master thesis by: Florian Lambert s4007344 Radboud University Nijmegen, Political Science, International Relations Supervisor: dr. Angela Wigger September 2014 Abstract In response to the European debt crisis, EU countries, excluding Great Britain and the Czech Republic, agreed in December 2011 on the so-called Fiscal Pact. This agreement entailed that all the Eurozone member states have to adhere to strict budgetary rules, enforced by the European Commission. That budgetary powers were ceded to the European Commission is surprising, because the EU member states have always been reluctant to do so. The goal of this thesis is to try to answer the question of why this specific path of further integration was chosen to overcome the crisis. The research employed two different theories of integration to answer this question: liberal intergovernmentalism and neofunctionalism. It was found that the path taken could be explained on the basis of liberal intergovernmentalism focusing on the economically largest EU countries, particularly the interests of the powerful German and French financial sectors. Having invested heavily in the bond markets of the troubled Eurozone countries, it was in their interest that these loans will be repaid. The Fiscal Pact, with its strict budgetary rules, ensures that the chance of a default in these countries as a result of the debt load would be minimized. Furthermore, the budgetary rules forces these countries to privatize industries and liquidate state assets, leading to investment opportunities for the German and French financial sectors. ii Contents Chapter 1: Introduction .........................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • New Institutionalism(S)
    New Institutionalism(s) Neo-functionalism and intergovernmentalism are ‘grand theories’ of European politics that seek to explain the overall direction and developments of European integration. By contrast, the new institutionalisms are ‘middle range’ theories that aim to account for specific European integration processes, but that do not seek to explain all of European integration within a single theory (Nugent, 2003, p.488). The move towards to such middle range theory in the context of European studies grew out of dissatisfaction on the part of some theorists with grand theory. Some scholars felt that theories such as neo-functionalism either missed the complexities of European Union or, if these complexities were factored into account, became too unwieldy to be useful (Nugent, 2003, p.488). Furthermore, in explaining the major episodes of EU integration, these grand theories do not really account for the day to day, week by week politics of the EU. Better, perhaps, in that case to focus on explaining smaller, but more manageable aspects of the European politics (Nugent, 2003, p.488). These middle range theories (such as the new institutionalisms) seek to do just that, often borrowing approaches from public policy and comparative politics that are normally used to study domestic politics, rather than International Relations. As an approach to the study of the EU, new institutionalism rests on the assumption that ‘institutions matter’ in European politics (Nugent, 2003, p.488-9). However, new institutionalism is not a single theory, but rather a set of approaches, each of which looking at institutions in a different way, drawing out the different manner in which institutions impact on political processes.
    [Show full text]
  • Critical Political Economy
    WORKING PAPER Critical Political Economy Bastiaan van Apeldoorn and Laura Horn No. 87 | May 2018 2 | KFG Working Paper No. 87 | May 2018 KFG Working Paper Series Edited by the Kolleg-Forschergruppe “The Transformative Power of Europe” The KFG Working Paper Series serves to disseminate the research results of the Kolleg-Forschergruppe by making them available to a broader public. It means to enhance academic exchange as well as to strengthen and broaden existing basic research on internal and external diffusion processes in Europe and the European Union. All KFG Working Papers are available on the KFG website at www.transformeurope.eu or can be ordered in print via email to [email protected]. Copyright for this issue: Bastiaan van Apeldoorn, Laura Horn Editorial assistance and production: Helena Rietmann, Sarah Barasa, Lisa Fenner van Apeldorn/Horn 2018: Critical Political Economy, KFG Working Paper Series, No. 87, May 2018, Kolleg-Forscher- gruppe (KFG) “The Transformative Power of Europe“, Freie Universität Berlin. ISSN 1868-6834 (Print) ISSN 1868-7601 (Internet) This publication has been funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Freie Universität Berlin Kolleg-Forschergruppe “The Transformative Power of Europe: The European Union and the Diffusion of Ideas” Ihnestr. 26 14195 Berlin Germany Phone: +49 (0)30- 838 57033 Fax: +49 (0)30- 838 57096 [email protected] www.transformeurope.eu Critical Political Economy | 3 Critical Political Economy Bastiaan van Apeldoorn and Laura Horn Abstract European integration is a fundamentally open-ended and contested process. Within the ‘mosaic of European integration theories’, critical political economy perspectives highlight the imbalances and struc- tural power asymmetries of the European project, and how they have become manifest in the multiple crises in Europe.
    [Show full text]
  • European Integration (Theory) in Times of Crisis Why the Euro Crisis Led to More Integration but the Migrant Crisis Did Not
    European Integration (Theory) in Times of Crisis Why the euro crisis led to more integration but the migrant crisis did not Frank Schimmelfennig, ETH Zürich, [email protected] EUSA, Miami, May 2017 Abstract The European Union has gone through major crises of its two flagship projects of the 1990s: Economic and Monetary Union and Schengen. Both crises had structurally similar causes and beginnings: exogenous shocks exposed the functional shortcomings of both integration projects and produced sharp distributional conflict among governments as well as an unprecedented politicization of European integration in member state societies. Yet they have resulted in significantly different outcomes. Whereas the euro crisis has brought about a major deepening of integration in the euro zone, the migrant crisis has not. I put forward a neofunctionalist explanation of these different outcomes, which emphasizes variation in transnational interdependence and supranational capacity across the two policy areas. Acknowledgments For comments on previous versions of the paper, I thank audiences at an ACCESS EUROPE seminar at VU Amsterdam and at the 2017 annual conference of the Swiss Political Science Association in St. Gallen. Special thanks to Klaus Armingeon, Ben Crum, Thomas Spijkerboer, and Jonathan Zeitlin. Introduction The European Union (EU) has come to operate in crisis mode permanently. When the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force in December 2009, the EU finally appeared to have achieved institutional consolidation after the failure of the Constitutional Treaty. Around the same time, however, the mounting Greek balance-of-payment problem signaled the start of the euro crisis. As soon as ‘Grexit’ was averted in dramatic negotiations in July 2015, the migration flow across the Aegean Sea spiraled out of control.
    [Show full text]
  • European Union Foreign Policy: a Historical Overview
    federiga bindi 1 European Union Foreign Policy: A Historical Overview In the words of Walter Hallstein, “One reason for creating the Euro- pean Community [was] to enable Europe to play its full part in world affairs. [It is] vital for the Community to be able to speak with one voice and to act as one in economic relations with the rest of the world.”1 However, the early European Community did not have a coherent foreign policy stricto senso. The European Economic Community (EEC) treaty did, however, contain important provisions in the fi eld of external relations that evolved and became increas- ingly substantive as the years went by. The purpose of this chapter is to pro- vide a comprehensive view of the evolution of European foreign policy (EFP) in its various forms and stages. The chronological description presented here links the different actions and decisions taken by the EEC with the external and domestic events facing the member states at that time. The European Defense Community During the negotiations for the Schuman Plan (1950), on which the agreement to form the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) is based, concerns emerged about a possible German rearmament. German disarmament after World War II had created a sort of power vacuum in the heart of Europe, which was dramatically emphasized after the Korean War. The United States suggested creating an integrated operational structure within the sphere of the Atlantic alliance within which a German army could participate under direct American control. This arrangement was to become the North Atlantic Treaty Organiza- tion (NATO).
    [Show full text]