The geopolitical context in which European integration unfolds is shifting, and with it the dynamics of EU politics and institutional development. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, a (temporarily?) re-invigorated transatlantic alliance, and the rise of China are all affecting the way in which the EU develops. To appropriately grasp the effects of geopolitics and to account for the variation in institutional development, mass public perception and member-state relations across policy fields, theoretical and empirical accounts of European integration need to more explicitly integrate such external drivers.
Established theories of European institution-building fail to account for the externally driven dynamics of European integration because they focus primarily on the internal drivers of EU policymaking and polity formation. On the one hand, functionalist theorising (Jones et al. 2016, 2021) puts the (asymmetrical) interdependence between the EU member states front and centre. On the other hand, postfunctionalism (Hooghe & Marks 2009, 2019) is interested in the effects of the identity-based contestation of EU-level political authority. Due to their focus on European internal actors and factors, however, we argue that these predominant perspectives suffer from an endogeneity bias.
Therefore, to appropriately grasp the effect of geopolitics, theoretical accounts of European integration also need to integrate external drivers. We suggest two analytical perspectives; namely, the relationship between individual EU member states and outside actors, and the perception of outside threats by national mass publics. First, 'external interdependence' might either compel the member states to close their ranks or sow discord among them. Second, 'external politicisation' can act as a mobilising or constraining force against outside threats.
Therefore, what is necessary in times of growing geopolitical importance (Meunier & Nicolaidis 2019, Haroche 2022) are lessons learnt from the classical European integration theories dating back to the time of global-power rivalry (Haas 1970, Hoffmann 1966, Schmitter 1970). In analytical terms, the return of externalism also requires a 'second image reversed' (Gourevitch 1978) analysis of EU institutional development.
Gourevitch, Peter (1978). The Second Image Reversed: The International Sources of Domestic Politics. International Organization 32(4), 881-912.
Haas, Ernst B. 1976. “Turbulent Fields and the Theory of Regional Integration.” International Organization 30(2), 173–212.
Haroche, Pierre. 2022. “A ‘Geopolitical Commission’: Supranationalism Meets Global Power Competition.” JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies 61(4), 970–987.
Hoffmann, Stanley. 1966. “Obstinate or Obsolete? The Fate of the Nation-State and the Case of Western Europe.” Daedalus 95(3), 862–915.
Hooghe, Liesbet, and Gary Marks. 2009. “A Postfunctionalist Theory of European Integration: From Permissive Consensus to Constraining Dissensus.” British Journal of Political Science 39(1), 1–23.
Hooghe, Liesbet, and Gary Marks. 2019. “Grand Theories of European Integration in the Twenty-First Century.” Journal of European Public Policy 26(8), 1113–1133.
Jones, Erik, R. Daniel Kelemen, and Sophie Meunier. 2016. “Failing Forward? The Euro Crisis and the Incomplete Nature of European Integration.” Comparative Political Studies 49(7), 1010–1034.
Jones, Erik, R. Daniel Kelemen, and Sophie Meunier. 2021. “Failing Forward or Falling Backward? Crises and Patterns of European Integration.” Journal of European Public Policy 28(10), 1519–1536.
Meunier, Sophie, and Kalypso Nicolaidis. 2019. “The Geopoliticization of European Trade and Investment Policy.” JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies 57(S1), 103–113.
Schmitter, Philippe C. 1969. “Three Neo-Functional Hypotheses About International Integration.” International Organization 23(1), 161–166.
1: How do outside threats and dependencies affect the path of European integration?
2: How does the shifting geopolitical environment influence EU politics?
3: How can we theorise the influence of external drivers on the contemporary dynamics of European integration?
4: How can we empirically assess the influence of external drivers on contemporary EU institution-building?
| Title |
Details |
| Geopolitics and the External Bordering of the European Union |
View Paper Details
|
| From Club to Common Resource Pool: Effects of Enlargement and Resource Sharing on International Organizations |
View Paper Details
|
| Unveiling “Cultural Market Power Europe”: The Geopolitical Implications of EU Digital Policy-Making |
View Paper Details
|
| The Resource Integration Dilemma. A Competence-control Perspective on the Development of EU Capacities |
View Paper Details
|
| The effect of a sequence of external threats on feelings of European community |
View Paper Details
|
| Navigating the polycrisis: The external dimension of EU crisis politics |
View Paper Details
|
| An Earthquake in the making? How Geopoliticization is shaking trade politics in the European Parliament |
View Paper Details
|
| Member States and Change in EU Foreign Policy after Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine |
View Paper Details
|
| Trojan Horse or Scapegoat: How China’s Economic Posture elevates the European Commission? |
View Paper Details
|
| Europe and the long formation of Atlantic Order: interaction, competition and cooperation from 1450 to the present day |
View Paper Details
|
| A geopolitical turnabout? Comparing the EU and the US approaches to competition and risk mitigation in high-tech relations with China |
View Paper Details
|
| Geopolitics and European Integration: The EU's Evolving Approach to the Governance of Strategic Technologies |
View Paper Details
|
| Wiggle-Room: The Demand Side of China’s Growing Influence in Central and Eastern Europe |
View Paper Details
|
