Rethinking the Relationship between Europeanization and European Integration

Abstract

Europeanization, understood as domestic change in which the EU is wholly or partially involved, has added an important dimension to comparative analysis of domestic European politics. Indeed, whether it is electoral politics or policy development, the analyst is obliged to consider including the EU in a research design or in the process of tracing change in the national political system. Despite the maturing of Europeanization studies and in the wider context of European integration studies, the study of the European integration process has continued to represent a separate level of analysis, where international relations theories continue to maintain legitimate perspectives. This chapter is concerned less with aspects of the Europeanization approach to understanding domestic change and more with answering the following question: does member states’ Europeanization impact the European integration process itself? The processes of European integration and Europeanization have been considered two distinct phenomena for analytical purposes, yet it may be the case that over time, as the EU has matured as a political system, the two phenomena have developed a reflexive or dependent relationship, necessitating a reconsideration of the research agenda for both. First, the level of development of the EU, in particular the increase in authority and policy scope of EU institutions since the Single European Act (SEA), has had a profound effect on member states.