Europaische Integratonstheorie - nicht obsolete, aber reformbedurftig
In: Zeitschrift für internationale Beziehungen: ZIB, Band 12, Heft 2, S. 345-351
ISSN: 0946-7165
The explanatory value & predictive strength of the two classical transnational integration theories -- liberal intergovernmentalism & neofunctionalism -- are assessed to determine how they need to be improved to provide an effective & tenable account of the failure to ratify EU treaties & other policies by voters in national referendums held in member countries; references are made in particular to the rejection of the constitution project for the EU in a referendum held in France on 29 May & the Netherlands on 1 June of 2005. Both models are outlined, examining how they incorporate inner state actors' role in the EU integration processes. The applicability of Robert Putnam's (1988) two-level approach & Leon N. Lindberg & Stuart A. Scheingold's (1970) notion of permissive consensus to the European multilevel decision making pattern is explored. It is concluded that the liberal intergovernmentalism & neofunctionalism treat international integration in terms of representative rather than plebiscitary democracy & view national & transnational elites as primary agents of European integration. If referendums become a dominant instrument of ratifying EU policies, both theories will lose their dominant descriptive-explanatory position since they are ill-equipped for dealing with direct democracy patterns. References. Z. Dubiel