The State of the (European) Union

From the Single Market to Maastricht, from Singular Events to General Theories

Bibliographic Data

ID21019128
AuthorsJeffrey J Anderson (0000-0002-0517-8583, John Brown University, corresponding author)
Year1995
Volume47
Issue3
Pages441-465
Publication date1995-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueWorld Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0043-8871 • E-ISSN: 1086-3338
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/s0043887100016452
OpenAlexW2329290600
LanguageEN
Citations received20
References cited29

This review article examines four recent volumes on the European Union, each of which takes as its substantive and theoretical starting point the relaunching of the European Community in the mid-1980s around the single market initiative. Taken together, they provide a comprehensive account of the momentous events leading up to the Maastricht summit. They also present an accurate reflection of the current state of the subfield. Their basic research agenda, a continuation of traditional approaches in Community studies, revolves around the “big bangs” of integration and the conventional models of neofunctionalism and intergovemmentalism. This scholarly continuity generates unwelcome consequences for the selection of research puzzles and for the robustness and reach of the findings. As a remedy, several strategies—some methodological, others theoretical—are outlined for generating new insights into the growing complexity of the European Union

Cognitive psychology · Economic and monetary union · Economic policy · Economics · European integration · European union · Feature integration theory · Geography · Maastricht Treaty · Political economy · Political science · Positive economics · Robustness (evolution) · Single market · State (computer science) · Summit · Computer Science · European Union Policy and Governance · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies · Psychology · Regional Development and Policy