Theories of European Integration

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The European Union (EU) has ever expanded since its initial origin phases/stages of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951 and the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1958 by the Inner Six countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Netherlands). Since its origins, the EU has integrated a substantial number of member-states to twenty-eight and are currently under the accession process some other countries eagerly waiting to join the European Union’s already large family. Through the years of the EU’s origins until its current state, many theories were developed regarding the European Integration, with the notion and objective to explicate and realize the direction of EU’s “character”, through the European Integration process while also theorizing the estimation of state-relationships of future candidate member-states and the impact on governments under a unilateral joint government –the EU. Theories regarding the European/Regional Integration have often been criticized and/or dismissed due to the EU’s former origin characteristic of Neofunctionalism (Haas 1958; Lindberg 1963) which befitted it at the time, but was later dismissed to the Intergovernmentalist theory (Hoffmann 1964; 1966) as various events unfolded. Time unfolds and many events ensue, which demand change or dismissiveness of theories which were previously considered valid and then outdated; this is why theories about the “character” of the European Integration are still a subject under scrutiny by scholars, as there is no one finite theory to explicate the precise character of EU.
The European Integration process was realized after the signing of the Paris Treaty by the Inner Six countries in 1951, which predicated that their economies ...

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...mentalists and Neofunctionalists support). Therefore, as a conclusion Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks stress that theorizing on European integration should no longer focus on the economic interests as so deeply Intergovernmentalists and Neofunctionalists support.
In conclusion, the perplexing subject of European Integration theories as we have mentioned will remain an open-ended debate among scholars and theorists, as there is no one finite explanation to the constantly evolving and ever-changing conditions of the European Union and its Integration process, mainly due to the abundant events which shape the integration process constantly.

Works Cited

George, Stephen, and Ian Bache. "Theories of European Integration." Politics in the European Union. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2010. 3-17. Print.
Theories of European Integration
Politics in the European Union
Ian Bache

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