European Integration and the Re-conceptualization of State Sovereignty: A Challenge for Neorealism

Year 2012, Volume: 4 Issue: 1, 91 - 105, 01.03.2012

George Koukoudakis

Abstract

This article focuses on the challenges that the political and constitutional
development of European Union (EU) poses to the neo-realist paradigm.
European integration constitutes a unique experiment in international
integration and, especially since the mid-1980s, in large-scale polity-formation.
Moreover, a “security community” in the sense of Deutsch has emerged among
the component polities of the EU, something that comes in stark contrast to the
Hobbesian view of international politics as an arena within which power-hungry
states find themselves in constant competition with each other. Instead, the EU
represents a unique exercise in peaceful voluntary integration and has played a
crucial role in the transformation of the domestic orders of the component
states, shaping their interests and behaviour, while contributing to a reconceptualisation
of state sovereignty. It thus challenges the explanatory power
of state-centric neo-realism. Also, the building of a European polity challenges
the unitary character of the state - an assumption underlying most realist
premises - as questions of subnational representation and mobilisation are now
part of the EU’s system of governance. Hence, a multilevel polity has emerged
in Europe characterised by complex patterns of interaction among state and
non-state actors. The proposed study, by examining normative discourses on
European polity-formation, challenges the analytical validity of the neo-realist
paradigm and raises the question for new theoretical orientations in
international relations of post bipolar Europe. 

Keywords

European Integration, Neorealism, European Union, State Sovereignty

References

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