Ultimate Summary Book | European Public Policy
Chapter 1: Understanding Integration
States and nations
The state: a legal and political arrangement through which all large-scale
political communities are organized, combining
Territory: state operates within fixed and populated territories
marked out by legal boundaries
Sovereignty: the institutions of the state have a monopoly over the
expression of legal and political power within its boundaries
Independence: states do not come under the jurisdiction or control
of other states or international organizations
Legitimacy: the authority of a state and its institutions is
recognized by the inhabitants of the territory and by the
governments of other states
Some now argue that the lines that distinguish sovereignty, independence,
and legitimacy are becoming increasingly blurred (states have lost so
much of their power). Others argue that the role of the EU is changing.
Sovereignty: the authority to rule, control and/or make laws, usually
associated with states and incorporating territorial integrity and political
independence.
The international state system is often known as the Westphalian
system (the monopoly of force within their mutually recognized
territories) after the 1648 Peace of Westphalia. States had, however,
begun to emerge well before 1648, and the worldwide reach of the state
system did not accelerate until the break-up of European empires after
1945.
Nation: a community whose members identify with each other on the
basis of a shared history, language and culture.
Nationalism: a belief in the primary interests of nations and the
promotion of nation-state founded on self-determination.
,International organizations
Motives for cooperation:
Promote peace
Encourage trade
Share ideas and resources
Reduce duplication
Address shared problems (immigration, financial regulation, cross-
border crime)
Most of the efforts of cooperation have been channelled through bilateral
and multilateral contacts between and among governments, but states
have also sometimes found it more efficient to create international
organizations.
International organization (IO): a body set up to promote cooperation
between or among states, based on the principles of voluntary
cooperation, communal management, shared interests and minimal
autonomy.
o International nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), whose
members are individuals or the representatives of private associations.
Examples: Amnesty International and Greenpeace
o Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), whose members are
states and whose goal is to promote cooperation among state
governments. Examples: World Trade Organization (WTO) and North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
The qualities of an international organization:
Voluntary cooperation: while states have governments and systems
of law that can be used to compel or force their citizens, IOs rely on
consent and voluntary cooperation
Communal management: while states are self-governing, IOs
organize themselves and make decisions on the basis of the shared
views of their members
Shared interest: while states will usually make decisions on the basis
of self-interest, IOs provide a forum within which members identify and
work on shared interests
Minimal autonomy: the institutions set up to manage or coordinate
the interests of the IO have few, if any, independent powers, and can
typically do only what the member states allow
Regional integration: the promotion of cooperation and collective action
among a group of states based on the identification of shared interests,
common goals, the promotion of efficiency, the pooling of resources, and
creating of opportunity.
Regional integration involves the creation of institutions that have the
authority to make new rules and policies in areas where their members
have agreed to cooperate. But the institutions are set up in a way that the
,governments of the member states have the key role in the adoption and
execution of those rules and policies.
Regional integration is not necessarily a linear process, and different
groups of states will have different ideas about the appropriate steps to
take.
The motives behind integration vary by time over place, but in most cases
involve economic cooperation, which can lead to progressively deeper
degrees of integration.
Regional Integration Association (RIA): an organization within which
independent states work to encourage cooperation and the pooling of
authority and resources for the mutual benefit of its members.
European model of integration (4 stages of European integration):
Agreement of free trade area with the removal of internal barriers to
trade (such as tariffs and border restrictions) while maintaining a
common external tariff against non-member states
The creation of a single market with the removal of internal barriers to
the free movement of people, money, goods and services
Efforts to promote monetary union, where smaller currencies are tied
to a leading currency or efforts are made to agree a single currency
RIAs often talk in general terms about the value of peace and political
cooperation, and even of political ‘unity’, but so far the idea of political
union has been too controversial to be anything more than a
theoretical goal
From federalism to neofunctionalism
After WWII, many Europeans argued that states had lost their credibility
and their political rights because they could not guarantee the safety of
their citizens concern that elites would rebuild the state system
federalists
(1) Federalism: promotion of, or support for, the idea of federation:
replacing the European state system by combining a central government
with regional governments. In this way, authority is divided between two
or more levels of government. [Jean Monnet]
Dual federalism (layer cake): central and regional governments are
distinct from each other, each with separate responsibilities
Cooperative federalism (marble cake): central and regional
governments are intermingled and it is difficult to see who has
ultimate responsibility (multilevel governance)
Picket fence federalism: central and regional governments share
powers
European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC, 1952) first step towards a
federal Europe (leading to today’s EU).
, International Relations (IR): the study of relations among states,
focusing on alliances, diplomacy, and the dynamics of decisions reached
by states working together or in competition with each other.
Realism: a theory which argues that we live in an anarchic global system
(one without rules or an authority above the level of the state), and that
international relations are driven by a struggle for power among self-
interested states.
Grand theory: a theory that explains the entirety of a phenomenon,
which has so far been lacking in efforts to explain and understand
European integration.