Neofunctionalism
Encyclopedia
Neofunctionalism is a theory of regional integration
, building on the work of Ernst B. Haas
, an American
political scientist
and also Leon Lindberg, an American political scientist. Jean Monnet
's approach to Europe
an integration
, which aimed at integrating individual sectors in hopes of achieving spill-over effects to further the process of integration, is said to have followed the neofunctional school's tack. Haas later declared the theory of neofunctionalism obsolete, after the process of European integration started stalling in the 1960s, when Charles de Gaulle
's "empty chair" politics paralyzed the institutions of the European Coal and Steel Community
, European Economic Community, and European Atomic Energy Community
. The theory was updated and further specified namely by Wayne Sandholtz, Alec Stone Sweet
, and their collaborators in the 1990s and in 2000s (references below). The main contributions of these authors was an employment of empiricism.
Neofunctionalism describes and explains the process of regional integration with reference to how three causal factors interact with one another: (a) growing economic interdependence between nations, (b) organizational capacity to resolve disputes and build international legal regimes, and (c) supranational market rules that replace national regulatory regimes.
Early Neofunctionalist theory assumed a decline in importance of nationalism
and the nation-state
; it predicted that, gradually, elected officials, interest groups, and large commercial interests within states would see it in their interests to pursue welfarist objectives best satisfied by the political and market integration at a higher, supranational level. Haas theorized three mechanisms that he thought would drive the integration forward: positive spillover, the transfer of domestic allegiances and technocratic automaticity.
Neofunctionalism was modified and updated in two important books that helped to revive the study of European integration: European Integration and Supranational Governance (1998), and The Institutionalization of Europe (2001). Wayne Sandholtz and Alec Stone Sweet
describe and assess the evolution of Neofunctionalist theory and empirical research in their 2009 paper, Neo-functionalism and Supranational Governance.
Intergovernmentalism
is an alternative theory of political integration, where power in international organizations is possessed by the member-states and decisions are made by unanimity. Independent appointees of the governments or elected representatives have solely advisory or implementational functions. Intergovernmentalism is used by most international organizations today. An alternative method of decision-making in international organizations is supranationalism.
Intergovernmentalism
is also a theory on European integration which rejects the Neofunctionalist mechanisms of integration. The theory, initially proposed by Stanley Hoffmann
and refined by Andrew Moravcsik
suggests that governments control the level and speed of European integration. Any increase in power at supranational level, he argues, results from a direct decision by governments. He believed that integration, driven by national governments, was often based on the domestic political and economic issues of the day. The theory rejects the concept of the spill over effect that neofunctionalism proposes. He also rejects the idea that supranational organisations are on an equal level (in terms of political influence) as national governments.
Neofunctionalists have attacked Intergovernmentalism on theoretical grounds, and on the basis of empirical evidence which they claim show that Intergovernmentalism is incapable of explaining the dynamics and overall trajectory of Europen integration.
Today, approaches with affinities to Neofunctionalism dominate the study of European integration, and especially research on the European Union's legal system, and there is little research in the Intergovernmentalist vein currently being produced.
Regional integration
Regional integration is a process in which states enter into a regional agreement in order to enhance regional cooperation through regional institutions and rules...
, building on the work of Ernst B. Haas
Ernst B. Haas
Ernst Bernard Haas was a German-American political scientist who made numerous contributions to theoretical discussions in the field of international relations....
, an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
political scientist
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
and also Leon Lindberg, an American political scientist. Jean Monnet
Jean Monnet
Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet was a French political economist and diplomat. He is regarded by many as a chief architect of European Unity and is regarded as one of its founding fathers...
's approach to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an integration
European integration
European integration is the process of industrial, political, legal, economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe...
, which aimed at integrating individual sectors in hopes of achieving spill-over effects to further the process of integration, is said to have followed the neofunctional school's tack. Haas later declared the theory of neofunctionalism obsolete, after the process of European integration started stalling in the 1960s, when Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
's "empty chair" politics paralyzed the institutions of the European Coal and Steel Community
European Coal and Steel Community
The European Coal and Steel Community was a six-nation international organisation serving to unify Western Europe during the Cold War and create the foundation for the modern-day developments of the European Union...
, European Economic Community, and European Atomic Energy Community
European Atomic Energy Community
The European Atomic Energy Community is an international organisation which is legally distinct from the European Union , but has the same membership, and is governed by the EU's institutions....
. The theory was updated and further specified namely by Wayne Sandholtz, Alec Stone Sweet
Alec Stone Sweet
Alec Stone Sweet grew up in Bellingham, Washington. He is Leitner Professor of Law, Politics, and International Studies at the Yale Law School, and a notable author, musician, and Petanque player.-Scholarship:...
, and their collaborators in the 1990s and in 2000s (references below). The main contributions of these authors was an employment of empiricism.
Neofunctionalism describes and explains the process of regional integration with reference to how three causal factors interact with one another: (a) growing economic interdependence between nations, (b) organizational capacity to resolve disputes and build international legal regimes, and (c) supranational market rules that replace national regulatory regimes.
Early Neofunctionalist theory assumed a decline in importance of nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
and the nation-state
Nation-state
The nation state is a state that self-identifies as deriving its political legitimacy from serving as a sovereign entity for a nation as a sovereign territorial unit. The state is a political and geopolitical entity; the nation is a cultural and/or ethnic entity...
; it predicted that, gradually, elected officials, interest groups, and large commercial interests within states would see it in their interests to pursue welfarist objectives best satisfied by the political and market integration at a higher, supranational level. Haas theorized three mechanisms that he thought would drive the integration forward: positive spillover, the transfer of domestic allegiances and technocratic automaticity.
- Positive spillover effectSpillover effectSpillover effects are externalities of economic activity or processes that affect those who are not directly involved. Odours from a rendering plant are negative spillover effects upon its neighbours; the beauty of a homeowner's flower garden is a positive spillover effect upon neighbours.In the...
is the notion that integration between states in one economic sector will create strong incentives for integration in further sectors, in order to fully capture the perks of integration in the sector in which it started. - Increased number of transactions and intensity of negotiations then takes place hand in hand with increasing regional integration. This leads to a creation of institutions that work without reference to "local" governments.
- The mechanism of a transfer in domestic allegiances can be best understood by first noting that an important assumption within neofunctionalist thinking is of a pluralistic society within the relevant nation states. Neofunctionalists claim that, as the process of integration gathers pace, interest groups and associations within the pluralistic societies of the individual nation states will transfer their allegiance away from national institutions towards the supranational European institutions. They will do this because they will, in theory, come to realise that these newly formed institutions are a better conduit through which to pursue their material interests than the pre-existing national institutions.
- Greater regulatory complexity is then needed and other institutions on regional level are usually called for. This causes integration to be transferred to higher levels of decision-making processes.
- Technocratic automaticity described the way in which, as integration proceeds, the supranational institutions set up to oversee that integration process will themselves take the lead in sponsoring further integration as they become more powerful and more autonomous of the member states. In the Haas-Schmitter model, size of unit, rate of transactions, pluralism, and elite complementarity are the background conditions on which the process of integration depends.
- Just as Rosamond put it (Rosamond: Theories of European Integration), political integration will then become an "inevitable" side effect of integration in economic sectors.
Neofunctionalism was modified and updated in two important books that helped to revive the study of European integration: European Integration and Supranational Governance (1998), and The Institutionalization of Europe (2001). Wayne Sandholtz and Alec Stone Sweet
Alec Stone Sweet
Alec Stone Sweet grew up in Bellingham, Washington. He is Leitner Professor of Law, Politics, and International Studies at the Yale Law School, and a notable author, musician, and Petanque player.-Scholarship:...
describe and assess the evolution of Neofunctionalist theory and empirical research in their 2009 paper, Neo-functionalism and Supranational Governance.
Intergovernmentalism
Intergovernmentalism
-A theory of regional integration:The theory is not applied on European integration which rejects the idea of neofunctionalism. The theory, initially proposed by Stanley Hoffmann suggests that national governments control the level and speed of European integration. Any increase in power at...
is an alternative theory of political integration, where power in international organizations is possessed by the member-states and decisions are made by unanimity. Independent appointees of the governments or elected representatives have solely advisory or implementational functions. Intergovernmentalism is used by most international organizations today. An alternative method of decision-making in international organizations is supranationalism.
Intergovernmentalism
Intergovernmentalism
-A theory of regional integration:The theory is not applied on European integration which rejects the idea of neofunctionalism. The theory, initially proposed by Stanley Hoffmann suggests that national governments control the level and speed of European integration. Any increase in power at...
is also a theory on European integration which rejects the Neofunctionalist mechanisms of integration. The theory, initially proposed by Stanley Hoffmann
Stanley Hoffmann
Stanley Hoffmann is the Paul and Catherine Buttenweiser University Professor at Harvard University.-Biography:A French citizen since 1947, Hoffmann spent his childhood between Paris and Nice before studying at the Institut d'études politiques...
and refined by Andrew Moravcsik
Andrew Moravcsik
Andrew Moravcsik is a Professor of Politics and director of the European Union Program at Princeton University. He is known for his research on European integration, international organizations, human rights, and American and European foreign policy, for developing the theory of liberal...
suggests that governments control the level and speed of European integration. Any increase in power at supranational level, he argues, results from a direct decision by governments. He believed that integration, driven by national governments, was often based on the domestic political and economic issues of the day. The theory rejects the concept of the spill over effect that neofunctionalism proposes. He also rejects the idea that supranational organisations are on an equal level (in terms of political influence) as national governments.
Neofunctionalists have attacked Intergovernmentalism on theoretical grounds, and on the basis of empirical evidence which they claim show that Intergovernmentalism is incapable of explaining the dynamics and overall trajectory of Europen integration.
Today, approaches with affinities to Neofunctionalism dominate the study of European integration, and especially research on the European Union's legal system, and there is little research in the Intergovernmentalist vein currently being produced.
Sources
- Ernst B Haas: The Uniting of Europe, Stanford 1958
- Ben Rosamond: Theories of European Integration (Palgrave Macmillan: Hampshire, 2000)
- Wayne Sandholtz and Alec Stone Sweet, eds., European Integration and Supranational Governance (Oxford University Press, 1998)http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780198294641.do?
- Alec Stone Sweet, Wayne Sandholtz, and Neil Fligstein, The Institutionalization of Europe (Oxford University Press, 2001)http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199247950.do?
- Alec Stone Sweet, The Judicial Construction of Europe (Oxford University Press, 2004)http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199275526.do?