Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Towards a Proper Explanation of European Disintegration

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
European Disintegration

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics ((PSEUP))

  • 1202 Accesses

Abstract

An explanation of European disintegration should account for the EU’s multi-dimensional nature and the continuous presence of disintegrative and integrative forces it is subject to. Avoiding a static checklist of factors, mechanisms help to grasp the dynamic processes of (dis)integration. The mechanism of exit, voice, and loyalty explains actors’ partial or full withdrawal from the EU. The mutual dependence between external consolidation and internal construction (the bounding-bonding mechanism) explains (dis)integration at the systemic level. Four propositions spell out how European (dis)integration might evolve: (1) integration may start and continue due to the lack of better alternatives and limited voice options; (2) the EU’s weak external consolidation (enlargement) has constrained its internal construction; (3) the external de-consolidation of member states has increased dissatisfaction; and (4) with loyalty low, voice opportunities limited, and better external exit options available, actors will seek full withdrawal from the EU. In the absence of better external alternatives, dissatisfied actors will opt for partial exits.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Despite being based on Bartolini’s theoretical framework, the choice of wording here may differ slightly so as to express as clearly as possible the political phenomena at hand.

References

  • Barry, B. (1974). Review article: “Exit, voice, and loyalty”. British Journal of Political Science, 4, 97–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartolini, S. (1998). Exit options, boundary building, political structuring. Working Paper 98/1. Florence: EUI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartolini, S. (2004). Old and new peripheries in the processes of European territorial integration. In C. K. Ansell & G. di Palma (Eds.), Restructuring territoriality: Europe and the United States compared (pp. 19–44). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bartolini, S. (2005). Restructuring Europe: Centre formation, system building and political structuring between the nation-state and the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bednar, J. (2009). The robust federation: Principles of design. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch, K. W., with Burrell, S. A., Kann, R. A., Lee Jr, M., Lichterman, M., Lindgren, R. E., Loewenheim, F. L., & Van Wagenen, R. W. (1957). Political community and the North Atlantic area: International organization in the light of historical experience. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dowding, K., John, P., Mergoupis, T., & van Vugt, M. (2000). Exit, voice and loyalty: Analytic and empirical developments. European Journal of Political Research, 37, 469–495.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doyle, M. (1986). Empires. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easton, D. (1965). A framework for analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elazar, D. J. (1987). Exploring federalism. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eppler, A., & Scheller, H. (2013). Zug- und Gegenkräfte im Europäischen Integrationsprozess. In A. Eppler & H. Scheller (Eds.), Zur Konzeptualisierung Europäischer Desintegration (pp. 11–44). Baden-Baden: Nomos.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Etzioni, A. (2001). Political unification revisited: On building supranational communities. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrera, M. (2003). European integration and national social citizenship: Changing boundaries, new structuring? Comparative Political Studies, 36(6), 611–652.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrera, M. (2004). Social citizenship in the European Union: Towards a spatial reconfiguration? In C. Ansell & G. Di Palma (Eds.), The restructuring of territoriality (pp. 90–121). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrera, M. (2005). The boundaries of welfare: European integration and the new spatial politics of social protection. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrera, M. (2007). Book review: Restructuring Europe. Comparative Political Studies, 40, 215–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Filippov, M., Ordeshook, P. C., & Shvetsova, O. V. (2004). Designing federalism: A theory of self-Sustainable federal institutions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Finer, S. (1974). State-building, state boundaries and border control: An essay on certain aspects of the first phase of state-building in Western Europe considered in the light of the Rokkan-Hirschman model. Social Science Information, 13(4/5), 79–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flora, P. (1999). Introduction and interpretation. In S. Rokkan (Ed.), State Formation, Nation-Building and Mass Politics in Europe: The Theory of Stein Rokkan (ed. by P. Flora) (pp. 1–91). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flora, P. (2000). Externe Grenzbildung und Interne Strukturierung: Europa und seinen Nationen: Eine Rokkanische Forschungperspektive. Berliner Journal für Soziologie, 10, 157–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franck, Th. M. (Ed.). (1968). Why federations fail: An inquiry into the requisites for successful federalism. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hedström, P., & Swedberg, R. (1998). Social mechanisms: An introductory essay. In P. Hedström & R. Swedberg (Eds.), Social mechanisms: An analytical approach to social theory (pp. 1–31). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hintze, O. (1975). In F. Gilbert (Ed.), The historical essays of Otto Hintze. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirschman, A. O. (1970). Exit, voice, and loyalty: Responses to decline in firms, organizations and states. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirschman, A. O. (1974). “Exit, voice, and loyalty”: Further reflections and a survey of recent contributions. Social Science Information, 13(1), 7–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirschman, A. O. (1981). Essays in trespassing: Economics to politics and beyond. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hooghe, L., & Marks, G. (2009). A postfunctionalist theory of European integration: From permissive consensus to constraining dissensus. British Journal of Political Science, 39(1), 1–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karvonen, L. (2007). Europe’s spaces and boundaries. Comparative European Politics, 5, 441–460.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelemen, R. D. (2007). Built to last? The durability of EU federalism. In S. Meunier & K. R. McNamara (Eds.), Making history: European integration and institutional change at fifty (pp. 51–66). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, P. (1987). The rise and fall of the great powers: Economic change and military conflict from 1500 to 2000. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindberg, L. (1971). Political integration as multidimensional phenomenon requiring multivariate measurement. In L. Lindberg & S. Scheingold (Eds.), Regional integration: Theory and research (pp. 45–127). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindberg, L., & Scheingold, S. (1970). Europe’s would-be polity: Patterns of change in the European community. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marsh, D., & Furlong, P. (2002). A skin not a sweater: Ontology and epistemology in political science. In D. Marsh & G. Stoker (Eds.), Theory and methods in political science (pp. 17–41). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Mason, K., Easton, G., & Lenney, P. (2013). Causal social mechanisms: From the what to the why. Industrial Marketing Management, 42, 347–355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mearsheimer, J. (1990). Back to the future: Instability in Europe after the Cold War. International Security, 15(1), 5–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mjøset, L. (2000). Stein Rokkan’s thick comparisons. Acta Sociologica, 43(4), 381–397.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moisio, S., & Paasi, A. (2013). Beyond state-centricity: Geopolitics of changing state spaces. Geopolitics, 18(2), 255–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, G. (2006). The nation-state, European (dis)integration, and political development. European Political Science, 5, 341–351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Motyl, A. (2001). Imperial ends: The decay, collapse, and revival of empires. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Niemann, A., & Bergmann, J. (2013). Zug- und Gegenkräfte im Spiegel der Theorien der Europäischen Integration. In A. Eppler & H. Scheller (Eds.), Zur Konzeptualisierung Europäischer Desintegration (pp. 45–70). Baden-Baden: Nomos.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons, C. (2007). How to map arguments in political science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Popescu, G. (2012). Bordering and ordering in the twenty-first century: Understanding borders. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riker, W. H. (1964). Federation/federalism: Origins, operation, significance. Boston, MA: Little, Brown.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rokkan, S. (1970). Citizens, elections, parties. Oslo: Universitets Forlaget.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rokkan, S. (1975). Dimensions of state formation and nation-building: A possible paradigm for research on variations within Europe. In C. Tilly (Ed.), The formation of national states in western Europe (pp. 562–600). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rokkan, S. (1999). State formation, nation-building, and mass politics in Europe: The theory of Stein Rokkan (P. Flora, S. Kuhnle, & D. Urwin, Eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosato, S. (2011). Europe united: Power politics and the making of the European Community. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sadeh, T., & Verdun, A. (2009). Explaining Europe’s Monetary Union: A survey of the literature. International Studies Review, 11, 277–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitter, P. (1971). A revised theory of regional integration. In L. Lindberg & S. A. Scheingold (Eds.), Regional integration: Theory and research (pp. 232–264). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilly, C. (1990). Coercion, capital and European states: AD 990-1990. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vollaard, H. (2009). The logic of political territoriality. Geopolitics, 14(4), 687–706.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vollaard, H. (2014). Explaining European disintegration. Journal of Common Market Studies, 52(5), 1142–1159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webber, D. (2013). How likely is it that the European Union will disintegrate? A critical analysis of competing theoretical perspectives. European Journal of International Relations, 19(4), 1–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zielonka, J. (2014). Is the EU doomed? Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Hans Vollaard

Authors
  1. Hans Vollaard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Vollaard, H. (2018). Towards a Proper Explanation of European Disintegration. In: European Disintegration. Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-41465-6_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation