The Contribution of the Neofunctionalist and ...（的贡献Neofunctionalist和u2026）.pdf

Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences ( 2009) V ol 1, No 3, 796-807 The Contribution of the Neofunctionalist and Intergovernmentalist Theories to the Evolution of the European Integration Process Teodor Lucian Moga, PhD Student, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi, Romania Abstract: The aim of this paper is to emphasize to what extent the two grand theories – neofunctionalism and intergovernmentalism – have underpinned and shaped the European integration process since the inception of what is today called the European Union. By giving an overview of how these two major theoretical streams have been depicted in the work of several scholars corroborated with some of the most relevant historical facts and changes which occurred in the fifth decades of European integration, this essay assesses both the evolution of these two main theories in the post-war era and their impact on the development of the European project as envisaged by the founding fathers of the European Community, Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman. These two tenets are useful in providing us with the analytical tools to explain the discrepancies in the EU policy-making across different issue areas and over time, rather blurred in many regards. For many years, the analysis of the European Community (EC) was actually intertwined with the study of the European integration process. This analysis focused mainly on the debate between the leading schools of European integration, neofunctionalist and intergovernmentalist, drawing from each approach a set of implications and hypotheses about the nat