Shifting boundaries: crisis and polity formation in the European Union

Crises are turning points in polity formation. While threatening polities with disintegration, they also create opportunities for political development. In the Rokkanian tradition, we study polity formation as boundary formation. In response to crises, polities have the option to change boundary closure and boundary control. We assume that the direction of crisis-induced boundary change depends on the nature of the crisis. Specifically, we distinguish ‘failures’ and ‘attacks’. Failures originate in policy shocks that expose capacity deficits. By contrast, attacks result from political resistance against the polity’s fundamental values and constitutional principles. We hypothesize that failures lead to capacity building through boundary control (the allocation of additional competences and resources to the center), whereas attacks result in community demarcation, i.e. boundary closure towards the attacker. We study boundary change in the polycrisis of the European Union (EU). Our comparative analysis of six crises is based on novel data on the EU’s boundary configuration. The results are largely congruent with our theoretical expectations. We find that failures generate increases in centralized boundary control competences and resources, whereas attacks produce changes in boundary closure, excluding the detractors of the community and including its defenders.