Rational Institutionalism and Liberal Intergovernmentalism

Abstract

Explicitly ‘rationalist’ approaches to the study of politics have become an increasingly important part of mainstream political science in recent times. Whereas twenty years ago, rationalist studies of politics might still have been viewed as an assortment of eccentric imports from various branches of microeconomics, such a view is no longer credible. Given the substantial development in rationalist scholarship, it is unsurprising that work in this tradition has achieved increasing prominence in study of the EU. Nor is it surprising that advocates of rationalist approaches claim an indispensable role for themselves in explaining European integration and EU politics.