liberal intergovernmentalism

 

  • First, while states are the main political actors, LI is a liberal not a realist theory, and thus all states are understood as representative institutions acting to advance
    the pre-strategic preferences of some (usually biased) coalition of domestic social groups with a stake in the way social, cultural or economic interdependence is managed.

  • It was originally created to explain broad evolution of regional integration, though it applies also to many everyday decisions.

  • So while states ultimately are in anarchy (as Brexit shows), at any given moment, they are often making decisions within an institutionalized international environment and
    they create such institutions in the expectation that they will shape state behavior[7] Liberal intergovernmentalism has demonstrated its usefulness with its methods of organizing and constructing empirical studies.

  • Many critics point out that Moravcsik’s early work focuses on the treaty-amending moments and member-states economic interests, rather than the everyday policy agendas that
    represent the majority of EU policies.

  • [10] However, Moravcsik responds that the theory obviously has utility in explaining everyday decisions: few analysts today would deny that the European Council and Council
    of Ministers remain the EU’s most important decision-making bodies (perhaps more so than 25 years ago), that the starting point for analyzing the Council’s behavior is to understand the nature and intensity of state preferences and the relative
    influence of different states.

  • Furthermore, Moravcsik’s scholarship is criticized for never put forward a detailed liberal intergovernmentalist account of the powers of the European Court of Justice, although
    a (modified) liberal intergovernmentalist account of European legal integration is certainly possible.

  • [9] A general criticism of liberal intergovernmentalism is that it focuses on the theory of grand bargaining and major decisions, and that it has no way of explaining everyday
    decision-making procedures.

  • [4][5][6] Liberal intergovernmentalism (LI) views states as the main political actors in political interactions, and sees the EU as an international institution that can be
    studied by viewing states as the main actors in a situation of anarchy, where each state achieves their goal through negotiations and bargaining.

  • In his book The Choice for Europe (1998), Moravcsik describes EU integration from 1957 to 1992 as follows: “EU integration can best be understood as a series of rational choices
    made by national leaders.

 

Works Cited

[‘1. Cini M. & Perez N. (2015) European Union Politics. Oxford University Press. UK. ISBN 9780198708933
2. ^ Moravcsik, A. (1998) The Choice for Europe. Social Purpose and State Power from Messina to Maastricht (Ithaca, NJ: Cornell University Press).
Page 18.
3. ^ Moravcsik, A. and Schimmelfennig, F. (2019) “Liberal Intergovernmentalism,” in Antje Wiener, Tanja Börzel and Thomas Risse, eds. European Integration Theory (Ithaca, NJ: Cornell University Press)
4. ^ Moravcsik, A. and Schimmelfennig,
F. (2019) “Liberal Intergovernmentalism,” in Antje Wiener, Tanja Börzel and Thomas Risse, eds. European Integration Theory (Ithaca, NJ: Cornell University Press)
5. ^ Moravcsik, A. (2018) “Preferences, Power and Institutions,” Journal of Common
Market Studies 56:7, pp. 1648-1674.
6. ^ Moravcsik, A. and Emmons, C. (2021) “Liberal Intergovernmentalism and European External Action,” in Sieglinde Gstoehl, ed. The External Action of the European Union (Macmillan)
7. ^ Moravcsik (1998) The
Choice for Europe. Cornell University Press, Chapter One
8. ^ Naurin, D. (2018) “Liberal Intergovernmentalism in the Councils of the EU: A Baseline Theory?” Journal of Common Market Studies 56:7, pp. 1526-1543.
9. ^ Cini M. & Perez N. (2015) European
Union Politics. Oxford University Press. UK. ISBN 9780198708933
10. ^ Weiner A., Diez T. (2009) European Integration Theory. Oxford University Press. US. ISBN 9780199226092
11. ^ Phelan W. (2018). European Legal Integration: Towards a More Liberal
Intergovernmentalist Approach. Journal of Common Market Studies 56(7): 1562-1577
2. Moravcsik, Andrew / Schimmelfennig, Frank (2009): “Liberal Intergovernmentalism.” In: Wiener, Antje / Diez, Thomas (ed.): European Integrations Theory. New York:Campus,
67–87.
Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/87244355@N00/5909154147/’]