International Institutions - The EU

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THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU)

1952 - creation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), 'make war not only unthinkable but materially impossible', France, W Germany, Italy and 3 Benelux countries signed: Treaty of Rome

1992 - Maastricht Treaty creates the European Union (EU)

1973 - 1995 - EU 15 members

2004 - 2013 - EU 28 members

2009 - Lisbon Treaty: expansion of the powers of the EU parliament, creation of the President for the Council, The High Representative for foreign and security policy, European Charter of Fundamental Rights legally binding

2013 - Nice Treaty: changes in voting weights, expansion of majority voting

Reasons for initiating the European integrating process: need to preserve peace, need for economic reconstruction, resolution of the 'German Problem', safeguard Europe from Soviet expansion, move beyond the nation-state and nationalism, the role of the US

EU IS THE ONLY II THAT HAS LEGALLY BINDING DECISIONS

The capability to transform ideology into law is the cornerstone of the integration

EU - a political community in which the absence of violence, as mean of action among the participant groups, is given a central place

Pooling sovereignty: 1). managing independence/relationships, new states between themselves, former colonial powers, other rival states, 2). consolidating international identity, participating in the international society, 3). managing interdependence, economically, peace and security

Nature of the EU, 'la finality': 1). assuring peace, 2). recovery of power-status, 3). building of a large market, 4). competitiveness with the US and Assia, 5). curbing US political and cultural hegemony, 6). a response to globalisation, 7). a first step towards global governance, 8). forging a common European identity, 9). a framework for fostering diversity within and among the states

EUROPEANISATION - Enlargement is the EU's most significant and far-erasing foreign policy action, a process of transformation of the domestic structures of a state by European frameworks, norms and rules

Europeanisation and Democracy/sovereignty - fear of commonality and cultural homogeneity, democratic deficit, 'the gap between the powers transferred to the European institutions and the ability of European citizens to influence their work and decisions' (McCormick)

'Democratic peace' - international aspect of post communist transitions, democracy promotion, political conditionality, regime improvement, Perpetual Peace: Kant, 'peace among nations'

^ HOWEVER - aggressively pursued, 'hybrid' democracies, slow process leading to set-backs

COPENHAGEN CRITERIA - European Council 1993: the achievement of stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for the protection of minorities

political conditionality can achieve a degree of consolidation but cannot guarantee stability

EU penetrates domestic and international politics

NEO-FUNCTIONALISM - Societal forces of modernisation, interdependence and the rise of technology create an open-ended (self-generating) process of integration - transnational society is being shaped by policies at the EU level

INTERGOVERNMENTALISM - preference formation and intergovernmental bargaining