An institutional perspective on treaty reform: contextualizing the Amsterdam and Nice Treaties

In this article, I investigate and map organizational factors that constrain and facilitate treaty reform in the EU. I argue that our understanding of the IGCs is incomplete if the analysis is based solely on the preferences and powers of the member states. Based on institutional theory, I argue that the treaty reform process needs to be situated in a distinct historical, institutional, and contextual setting, revealing how actors are embedded in a web of structuring elements. The article examines the particular importance of three major institutional and contextual factors: (i) path dependency, (ii) legitimacy and normative order, and (iii) the temporal location and timing of the conferences. The perspective is not an alternative to the state-centric perspective, but it questions some of its basic assumptions and offers a theoretical framework that supplements our understanding of the dynamics of treaty reform. The empirical focus is on the 1996-7 IGC, which resulted in the Amsterdam Treaty, and on the 2000 IGC, which led to the Nice Treaty.