Save 40% site-wide with our holiday sale! Use code HOLIDAY23 at checkout. More details here.

The Dynamics of European Integration

Causes and Consequences of Institutional Choices

Subjects: Political Science, International Relations, European Studies, U.K. Politics
Ebook : 9780472221639, 256 pages, 44 images 8 Tables, 6 x 9, May 2024
Hardcover : 9780472133512, 256 pages, 44 images, 8 Tables, 6 x 9, May 2024
Paperback : 9780472039685, 256 pages, 44 images, 8 tables, 6 x 9, May 2024
See expanded detail +

Examines how certain policy models can work within the context of dissensus and polarization in Europe while still promoting solidarity and trust in the European Union

Table of contents

Introduction
Chapter 1 From Constraining Dissensus to Supranational Consensus?
Chapter 2 Causes of Institutional Choices for Europe
Chapter 3 Design and Competence for Europe
Chapter 4 Choices for Europe After Maastricht
Chapter 5 Consequences of Choices for Europe
Chapter 6 Phase I: Technocracism and Compliance
Chapter 7 Phase II: Partisan Conflict and Supranational Camp-building
Chapter 8 Phase III: Polarization and Identity-formation
Chapter 9 Conclusion and Outlook
References
Keyword Index

 

Description

In Europe’s recent history, there have been several challenges to the strength of the European Union—Brexit, COVID, financial crises, and global tensions—bringing an increased need to understand the ways that the European Union (EU) could successfully stay  together or fall apart. In examining how the European Union has changed since 1993, important puzzles have emerged, including how national government functions are transferred to the EU without reforming the EU, how increased transparency is announced while decisions are approved in informal meetings, and how the effects of the polarizing rise of Euroscepticism can be managed to still promote the formation of solidarity and trust among Europeans. To understand these puzzles, Thomas König introduces a new theory of (supra)national partyism to help explain the causes and consequences of choices made by political leaders for Europe. He uses a game-theoretical perspective to look at how conditions for leaders change through accessions of new members, shocks, and crises, and separates institutional choices into two different games played by office- and policy-seeking political leaders—the interstate summit game and the national game of party competition. The Dynamics of European Integration reveals how the reorganization of electoral systems can harness dissensus and polarization among diverse national constituencies to enable the promotion of solidarity and trust in the EU.

Thomas König is Professor of Political Science and European Politics at the University of Mannheim.