THE CONVENTION ON THE FUTURE OF EUROPE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTEGRATION THEORY: A LASTING IMPRINT?

Author: Reh, Christine

Source: Journal of European Public Policy, Volume 15, Number 5, August 2008 , pp. 781-794(14)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

The Convention on the Future of Europe not only attracted public and political attention, but quickly reached centre-stage in the academic debate about European integration. Six years after the Convention was set up, this article asks whether this flourishing field of research chiefly permits insights into an idiosyncratic institution, or whether the Convention served as a catalyst for more enduring developments in integration theory. Arguing in favour of the latter, the article demonstrates that EU scholars have used the Convention to refine our theoretical understanding in three areas: (1) domestic preference formation; (2) international negotiations; and (3) deliberative democracy and constitutional design. The reviewed literature follows a predominant trend in integration theory, namely to 'import' established approaches from comparative politics, international relations and democratic theory rather than to theorize the Union's nature and the process of supranational integration as a single case. In turn, some of the contributions discussed below generate conceptual, methodological and theoretical insights that could be 'exported' back into political science more generally.

Keywords: Comparative politics; Convention; deliberative democracy; integration theory; international relations; liberal intergovernmentalism

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13501760802133351

Publication date: 2008-08-01

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