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International Integration and the European Union. April 30, 2013. Integration. In the 20 th and 21 st centuries, integration has been drive by two sources: state actions and technology. State actions:
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International Integration and the European Union April 30, 2013
Integration In the 20th and 21st centuries, integration has been drive by two sources: state actions and technology. State actions: • Often take the form of creating supranational organizations: organizations that subsume a number of states and their functions within a single entity. Examples: UN, EU • Are sometimes difficult to take because supranationalism is opposed by supporters of state sovereignty and those who wish to retain unique national identities.
Aspects of integration The process of integration in general (whether through state action or technology) also involves other factors: • Transnational actors: actors that bridge national borders and thereby create new avenues for interdependence: non-governmental organizations (NGOs), MNCs. • Transnational issues: problems or developments that cannot be addressed by a single state because they also cross national boundaries (global warming, terrorism, refugees, disasters).
Explaining Integration It is difficult for some schools of IR (such as realism) to explain integration because the process entails states giving up power and sovereignty to transnational institutions. However, it is also possible to see the continuing importance of state sovereignty and nationalism at work because the existence of transnational issues does not automatically result in integration. Moreover, the level of integration that has arisen in response to those issues is limited and uneven. Has never been the case that states have completely given power to transnational organizations to deal with any particular issue. Always have some voice as a state in the workings of transnational organizations and have a way of exiting such organizations if the judgment is made that costs of belonging outweigh the benefits.
Explaining Integration • Functionalism: explains integration by holding that particular issues and problems spur the development of specialized technical organizations and structures that allow states to perform particular functions that cross national boundaries: delivery of mail, coordinate use of rivers, regulate movements of airplanes and ships. • But bare functionalism does not explain the rise and development of the European Union, which includes more than functional organizations and activities.
Explanations • To explain such entities as the EU, most move on to a more ambitious explanatory model • Neofunctionalism: more extensive integration, in the form of the creation of transnational organizations that do more than perform narrow functions, is the product of an added result of economic integration: the generation of a political dynamic that pushes through further political integration because higher level political organization is necessary for the processes of economic integration to operate effectively. Thus economic integration leads eventually to political integration.
Development of the European Union as Evidence • In some ways, the development of the EU follows the pattern predicted by neofunctionalism, in that economic integration was followed by political integration because the latter was necessary for the effective functioning of the former. • However, note that the beginnings of economic integration in Europe were not purely economic in nature: important political and strategic factors played an important role in the beginnings of the integration process that made that process acceptable to member states.
Resistance to integration • Also important to note that there is and remains resistance to integration that stem not only from political elites attempting to maintain national power, but other groups attempting to protect regional economies, local cultures, and regional autonomy. Integration provides benefits, but it also comes with costs, not all of which are economic and political, and much of which is borne by those who are not national elites.
Counterwaves It is also the case that integration has not always advanced such that the future always contains more integration than the past. There have been important waves of disintegration that have occurred over the past 75 years that have devolved power away from transnational entities back to national and regional entities: • Decolonization that occurred in particular after WWII • Breakup of the Soviet Empire after the Cold War • Breakup of some post-colonial states due to inherent tensions created by the drawing of state boundaries by colonial powers.
History of the EuropeanUnion The EU is the product of a long process; in this, it is different from the UN, which has changed little since its creation after WWII. The EU had its origins in the desire to coordinate reconstruction efforts in Europe after WWII. • Some of the initiative came from the US, which encouraged cooperation in the use of Marshall Plan funds. • Other parts came from France, and in particular Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman, who proposed the integration of French and German steel and coal industries, key components of European reconstruction and growth.
ECSC • Their efforts gradually spurred the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, which included not just France and Germany, but also Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. • Reduce trade barriers in coal and steel • Coordinate coal and steel policies • High authority to do coordinating work and deal directly with companies, unions and individuals • A functional organization, though it also had political and strategic overtones. Coal and steel were economically important, but they are also strategically important. To control and coordinate coal and steel policies was one way of reassuring European nations (along with the efforts of NATO) that a revitalized Germany would not be a threat.
Later Developments 1952: attempt to move beyond technical cooperation to include political and military coordination. Resulted in a treaty that created the European Defense Community: • One European military budget • One European military command But France failed to ratify treaty. Also an attempt tin 1953 to come to an agreement on a European Political Community, but failed.
Treaty of Rome (1957) Members of the ECSC agreed to create two new entities: • Euratom (European Atomic Energy Community): coordinate development and use of atomic energy through pooling research, investment and management. An extension of principles regarding coal and steel to this new energy source. • European Economic Community: framework for further economic integration: • Create customs union by 1969 • Goal of creating common market, but with no deadline
Other Developments • Treaty of Rome established the principle of unanimity with regard to changes in its provisions, allowing any state to veto, for example, new member applications (as France did with Great Britain in 1963 and 1967 in an expression of continued Great Power rivalry). • Common Agricultural Policy (CAP): reduce conflicts over agricultural subsidies by stipulating that any subsidies given by a state to its farmers must be given to farmers in any EU country. Results in the provision of costly subsidies by the EU and the creation of important trade issues with non-EU countries.
New EU members • Britain 1973 • Greece 1981 • Spain and Portugal 1986 • Austria(1995) • Bulgaria(2007) • Cyprus (2004) • Romania (2007) • Czech Republic (2004) • Denmark (1973) • Estonia (2004) • Finland (1995) • Malta(2004) • Poland(2004) • Slovakia(2004) • Slovenia (2004) • Sweden (1995) • Hungary(2004) • Ireland (1973) • Latvia(2004) • Lithuania (2004)
Impact of new members Introduced more complexity into the system through new members, and more problems as new members were economically, culturally and politically different from the original members. Necessitated change in nature of the system, in that with enlarged membership, not all countries would join with all EU endeavors, allowing for selective integration. Thus, for example, not EU members are part of the common currency and monetary system.
Single European Act (1985) • Target date of 1992 for the creation of a common market, which would entail the elimination of nontariff barriers to free trade in good, services, labor and capital within the EU • Goal of creating a single European Bank • Goal of creating a single European currency and monetary system
Maastricht Treaty (1992) Replace different currencies with a single European currency. This took place 2002, with 17 countries eventually participating. Not every country had to join, and there are strict membership guidelines for admittance into the single currency: • Budge deficit of less than 3% of GDP • National debt of less than 60% of GDP • Inflation of no more than 1.5% of the average of the lowest inflation EU countries • Stable interest rates and national currency values.
Maastricht: Political integration • Creation of a European Policy Agency • Understanding of EU citizenship that allows foreign national residing in another EU country to vote in local elections. • Commitment to work towards a common foreign policy and establishing a joint military force.
Reactions to Maastricht • Revival of nationalism and national identity • Controversies over measures needed to meet the financial requirements to join the Euro • More conflicts over trade with non-EU countries, as economic, labor, health and safety and other regulations are standardized and tightened. • Complaints of unfair treatment regarding economic policies across EU countries. • Complaints by richer countries that they are subsidizing the loose social policies of poorer countries.
