political,legalandeconomicproblemsineuropeaninteg.docVIP

Political, legal and economic problems in European integration PO333 Lecture Notes Term 1  Lecture 1 Introduction: Themes in European Integration EU between a standard international organisation and a state. Described in a variety of different ways. To understand EU’s role in international relations, necessary to start off by looking at what type of animal the EU is. Basic trajectory: Initiated in 1950s through specific areas of cooperation: coal and steel, atomic energy, common market. Then: piecemeal proposals and developments. But by 1970s: integration had stagnated. Single market programme renewed integration in the late 1980s. Led to Maastricht: range of institutional deepening and EMU. Basic template for 1990s. Incremental additions in all areas, nearly all spheres have some element of European cooperation. New Amsterdam treaty, 1998. Nothing dramatic. JHA, foreign policy, economic cooperation to accompany EMU. Then: convention. Big institutional debate replayed. Crucial moment for EU. Preparing itself for enlargement, will effect its very essence, what type of political entity it seeks to become. So: need to start from origins to understand what has driven and held back this process. During the course we will follow the historical, chronological development of European integration, so you get an idea of general process of change and deepening of cooperation between European states. But we will look at this development in a way that allows us to explore more conceptual themes. Overview. To flag up some of the main arguments that each of the lectures will formulate:- Origins and early years: Started in very technical, mundane areas of cooperation; early optimism that this would soon spread to full political union and a European federal state. Genius; but soon hit obstacles. Dynamics that were supposed to drive the EU inexorably forward were not working. By 1970s if anything going backwards. Why? Essential argument here: architects of t