The Geopolitics of European Integration

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?

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