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The European Union in disequilibrium: new intergovernmentalism, postfunctionalism and integration theory in the post-Maastricht period

Title / Series / Name
Journal of European Public Policy
Publication Volume
26
Publication Issue
8
Pages
Editors
Keywords
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/13893
Abstract
The crises that weigh heavily on the European Union (EU) in the 2010s have underlined the continued importance of integration theory, albeit in ways that go beyond classic debates. Postfunctionalism, in particular, has shown how European integration and its problems stand on shifting political cleavages. And yet, postfunctionalist claims that such changes would create a constraining dissensus in the EU rests uneasily with the intensification of European integration since the Maastricht Treaty was signed. This article offers a new intergovernmentalist explanation of this puzzle, which shows how mainstream governing parties have circumvented rather than being constrained by Eurosceptic challenger parties and challenger governments. The result, it contends, is not a constraining but a destructive dissensus that adds to the EU’s political disequilibrium. Understanding the persistence of this disequilibrium and its potential to unwind disruptively is a key challenge for contemporary integration theory.
Topic
Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Journal article
Date
2019
Language
ISBN
Identifiers
10.1080/13501763.2019.1569712
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