European Integration Theory. Antje Wiener & Thomas Diez

Transcription

1 European Integration Theory Antje Wiener & Thomas Diez

2 Disposition (mine) From the general to the specific - i.e. the first chapter of the book - finished by some overall angles or questions And then something about the rest of the particular chapters from SOME angles. back to the general again (like W & D in their final chapter of the book)

3 Introduction (Diez & Wiener) What D & W want to do - introduction to European Integration Theory - overview, achievements, problems Make the case for theory when studying European Integration The book a starting-point for criticizing and reformulating existing approaches Tackle at least the political integration process

4 What is theory? D & W endorse a broad definition, which include a broad range of approaches - see the terms on page 3 - integration theory - theoretical approaches

5 Why Study Integration Theory? Gives a better understanding of the institutions Can enlighten normative issues such as legitimacy and democracy Provides tools for understanding & conceptualization - three examples of important occasions, hotly debated from different theoretical angles p 5 shed a different light on Theoretical pluralism as an ideal or norm!?

6 Three Phases In Integration Theory Explaining 1960s onwards e.g. realism Analysing 1980s onwards e.g governance Constructing 1990s onwards e.g. social constructivism

7 Studying Integration Theory 1 D & W find the argument of incommensurability problematic when it comes to different approaches.why? The reason for their incompatibility is the claims they make about their scope. See page 16 quote Which claims? Inappropriate scope claims take an ontological and an epistemological form.

8 Studying Integration Theory 2 D & W finds that it is possible to see different approaches adding to a larger picture without being combined into an single, grand theory - One needs to adopt one s own viewpoint in order to make them work - They are stones in an always incomplete mosaic.

9 The function of Theory Explanation & understanding Description & analysis Critique & normative intervention

10 The areas of Theory Polity (political community, institutions) Policy (instruments, style) Politics (actors, struggles) The three areas as explanans or explanandum - c.f. independent variables vs dependent variables

11 The functions & areas of Integration Theory Polity Policy Politics Explanatory Analytical Normative

12 Meta-angles, questions, reflections (W & D:s & mine) Part 1 close to the text Origins & close relatives Variants?! (within theories) In debate with/contrast to Critique of!? (common) (Famous) researchers, e.g.?! Best case applied or not!? Test case enlargement Scope ontology & epistemology

13 Meta-angles, questions, reflections (W & D:s & mine) Part 2 theoretical Character description, concept, prescription, approach, framework, theory Kind of theory meta, general, meso, micro Narrow or loose theory? See page 3 & 183 Structure axioms, assumptions, mechanisms Positivist or post-positivist? Explanans & explanandum? Explaining, analysing, constructing? Contrary or complementary?

14 Federalism (Burgess) B finds that the analysis must take account of what he calls the empirical context - No federation is identical to another - Shaped & determined by unique historical factors cf. federalism in India & Germany From EC to EU federal destination Unity in diversity see page 28f Latin term foedus covenant, contract - Equal partnership, mutual reciprocity

15 Federalism 2 Switzerland as a role model!? Federalism - the idea, political ideology Federation polity, a composite state that constitutes a single people Confederation union of states Federal idea and European Integration - Voluntary union of states and people - Main goal = integration (not assimilation) - Founded on self-rule and shared rule (Elazar) - Anti-absolutist & anti-centralist (watchwords)

16 Federalism 3 European Union of Federalists (Basel 1946) The Hague Congress (1948) European Move. Three strands of federalism - Jean Monnet the political strategy of small, concrete economic steps, culminating in a federal Europe (functional spillover) - Altiero Spinneli starting with the political institutions and a popularly endorsed treaty - Proudhonian federalism critique of capitalism

17 Federalism 4 EU USA comparison Elazars idea about EU as the new federal paradigm in world politics B:s conclusion that EU will remain a multicultural, multilingual, multi-ethnic and ultimately multinational union of constituent states and people

18 Federalism 5 Liberal intergovernmentalism and Federalism - LI is a model that is fundamentally flawed - See page 35 (why) & page 36 The enlargement see page 41 What kind of theory is federalism? - Descriptive concept? - Explanatory? - Other?

19 Neofunctionalism (Niemann & Schmitter) - form Functionalism org. - scope (Mitrany) - purpose task Neofunctionalism - Autonomous influence of supranational institutions - Role of organized interests - Regional focus - Changes in elite attitudes - Sees integration as a process (not as an (end-)state)

20 Neofunctionalism 2 Five assumptions, about the dynamics of European Integration - Rational & self-interested actors, can learn & change preferences, also according to EU - Institutions can take on a life of their own - Incremental decision making - Rejects the zero-sum idea - Spillover process from emerging functional interdependencies

21 Neofunctionalism 3 Criticism - Presumes that mc:s are relatively developed - Focus only on explaining integration - Is spillover inevitable? Under which conditions - - A fair weather Process? - Economic determinism? - Actor-centredness - International context? - Says little about disparate national demands

22 Neofunctionalism 4 Modified Neofunctionalist Accounts - Sweet & Sandholtz supranational governance approach - Schmitters model of decision cycles - Niemann s revised approach Two countervailing forces - sovereignty-consciousness - Domestic constraints & diversities

23 Neofunctionalism 5 Neofunctionalism focuses on explaining EU decision processes & outcomes - Examples/cases see page 57 onwards Conditions for spillover: - Functional pressure have to be perceived as compelling Also focus on governmental elites learning, socialization & deliberation

24 Intergovernmentalism (Moravcsik & Schimmelfennig) Baseline theory (in the study of regional integration) Explain state behaviour (explanandum) Grounded in broader social science theory ( rationalist institutionalism ) Core of microfoundational assumptions - Specify the motivation of social actors - Derives predictions that can be tested empirically

25 Intergovernmentalism 2 Framework that seeks to explain reg. integration Parsimonious, but multi-causal, not monocausal A minimum of three theories arrayed in a multistage model are required to explain integration Substantive assumptions and empirical predictions - States are actors, and achieve their goals through intergovernmental negotiation & bargaining (one)

26 Intergovernmentalism 3 - States are rational, calculates alternatives and choose the one that maximizes (satisfies) their utility (two) Three stage framework, one define preferences, two- bargain substantive agreement, three create institutions Each stage is separate, explained by a separate theory liberal bargaining - functional

27 Intergovernmentalism 4 National preferences issue specific Substantive bargains information & expertise (state least in need = pole position ) Institutional choice international institutions are often necessary for durable cooperation - Help states reach a collectively superior outcome (reduce transaction costs) - Not about replacing the nation state, but adapting it to globalization

28 Intergovernmentalism 5 M & S meets the criticism from rational choice institutionalists (scope not everyday decisionmaking) & historical institutionalism (scope only conscious decision-making) But stresses that LI is not a universal theory - It can not explain integration under conditions that violates its assumptions about preferenceformation cf. the cases of trade & constitutional reform, or agriculture & enlargement

29 Intergovernmentalism 6 The EU is not a state in the making, it is the most ambitious and successful of multilateral organizations.

30 Governance Approaches (Peters & Pierre) Contested concept, to some extent normative A functional theory at a fundamental level - Societies must govern themselves - & therefore must perform certain activities - - mechanisms, identifying common problems - - deciding upon goals - - designing & implementing the means to achieve them

31 Governance Approaches 2 Agnostic about who steers & how - Openness to non-state actors Broader than government - Involves multiple actors Government & social actors often cooperate - The empirical mixtures can be examined Important to remember: Conducted in the shadow of hierarchy in the name of the state OMC as one of the best examples in EU (cf. page 85)

32 Policy Networks (Peterson) Modern governance doing things together Linkages between organisations central analytical focus for many social scientists Certain features of the EU give sustenance to policy network analysis - EU governance is truly modern, most problems are technical and administrative - It is an extraordinarily differentiated polity

33 Policy Networks 2 - Decision rules & dominant actors vary - Policy networks tend to be discrete, distinct & largely disconnected from one another - Most have diverse membership & many lack clear hierarchies Policy network analysis helps to describe this It seek to test the basic proposition that the way in which networks are structured in any EU policy sector will determine, and thus help explain & predict, policy outcomes.

34 The New Institutionalisms (Pollack) The rational-choice approach - principal-agent models Sociological institutionalism, constructivism - logic of appropriateness Historical institutionalism - positive feedback & path dependence - joint decision traps See page 142 a puzzle!?

35 Social Constructivism (Risse) Human agents do not exist independently from their social environment (cf. rational choice) Mutual constitutiveness of (social) structures & agents properties of structure & of agents cannot be collapsed into each other This has important repercussions for the study of EU (especially Europeanization ) & the study of institutional effects on social identities and fundamental interests of actors (page 148) Emphasis on communication & discursive practices

36 Discursive approaches (Waever) Things do not have meaning in and of themselves; they only become meaningful in discourse - A system that regulates the formation of statements (cf. Foucault) Recurrent themes in discursive approaches - there is not one Europe but many - against interpreting the EU in state terms - European questions are tied in with other issues, because of the relational nature of language Different approaches different main unit of disc.

37 Gender (Locher & Prügel) What kind of gender equality policies does the EU pursue? feminists ask Feminist research starts from an ontological proposition, i.e. that gender is a basic organising principle of the social & political world (cf. i.g.) Creation of an EU gender equality regime - Three stages from a focus on equal rights, to positive action, to gender mainstreaming - - implemented in a highly uneven fashion

38 Normative Theory (Bellamy & Attucci) A European Contract? - John Rawls & his two principles of justice A European Community? - Jürgen Habermas & the democratic principle The most convincing normative positions are those that makes sense of the EU s character as betwixt and between the nation state and a supranational institution, mixing contractarian and communitarian elements in the process.

39 Critical Political Economy (Cafruny & Ryner) Ernest Mandel monopoly capitalism Nicos Poulantzas power relations, classes, Euro-American interdependence Neo-Gramscian theory Because it situates the political world within the broader structure of social power relations, critical political economy relates developments in the EU to the constraints & opportunities of capitalism (page 237).

40 Taking Stock of I.T. (Wiener & Diez) Polity Policy Politics Explanatory Neofunctionalism Policy network New institutionalism Liberal intergovernmentalism Discursive approach Political economy Social constructivism Analytical Governance Governance Governance Gender approaches Normative Federalism Discursive Gender Normative pol. th. Gender Normative pol. th. Gender Political economy