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WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM? THE EU’S SINGLE EUROPEAN ACT AND THEORIES
OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION
Craig ParsonsUniv. of Oregon
Problem structure and IOs Extremely reasonable place to start to
analyze IOs:What problem do actors confront?What capacities, incentives, relevant norms
do they have?From these conditions follow the shape of
an international organization and its capacity to solve problems
Or as Milner re-slices and dices it “Political scientists use three factors to
explain trade deals”: Preferences: where do you sit in the
economy?○ In terms of “factors” (land, labor, capital)○ Or sectors and “asset specificity” (mobility)
Domestic institutions: who can influence policy?
Structure of international system: who threatens whom? ○ Presence of “hegemon” helps cooperation
The problem with problem structure? The narrower and more technical the
deal, the more it should make senseTuna fishing regulation? Sure.
The bigger and more politically important the deal, the less promisingOften fundamental conflict over: What is the
problem?
And often organizations are a separate kind of problem….
Problem-structure view of international organizations suggests that organizational design flows from substantive policy challenges
But often people have separate concerns about organizational authorityAs a precedentOr as an issue in itself
EU basics
A unique quasi-federal government over 28 countries
Capital in Brussels, Belgium
A real governmentwith big buildings…
Flag, motto, holiday, anthem All the symbols of a state:
12-star flagSemi-official motto: “united in diversity”Holiday: “Europe Day,” May 9Anthem: Beethoven’s Ode to Joy
EU’s state-like institutions and policy process
Council of Ministers votes
EXECUTIVE LEGISLATIVE JUDICIAL
some implementationby Commission bureaucracy
most implementation bynational governments
European Commission proposes
European Parliament votes
European Court ofJustice
adjudicates disputes
Categories of theories of IOs Rationalist-materialist: problem-structure approach Institutionalist:
(beware: this word has many meanings!!)
Problem-structure approach with feedback○ Have problem, build institution (=organization); it then
alters your problems and possibilities thereafter
Ideational: How people interpret problems/solutions causes more
variation in the world than the “real” structure of problems
People build IOs around certain ideas/models that diagnose problems and match to solutions
What problems does the EU solve??
Cycle of warCreated to make war impossible
Temptation to protectionismBinding countries into free-trade framework
Competition with US, othersBuild more dynamic big market
Lack of influence for smallish countriesEmpower collective voice in global trade, monetary
affairs, foreign policy Instability of weaker economies and polities
Imposes/supports/subsidizes reform
Building the EU institutions Origins in the 1950s:
European Coal and Steel Community, 1952European Economic Community, 1958
Expansion of powers in 1980s/1990sSingle European Act, 1986Maastricht Treaty on European Union, 1992
Tinkering, Enlargement, Public RelationsTreaties of Amsterdam, Nice, Lisbon since
SEA as key episode for EU SEA “relaunches” languishing EEC
Gives renewed authority to institutions, inaugurates 15 years of massive change
Seen as fairly modest at time, but…Mandated hundreds of liberalizing directives
○ Including full capital liberalization, which led on to monetary union…
Torrent of liberalizing measures peaks early 1990s, but continues today
Also relaunch of scholarship on EU:Main theories developed out of this case
Also key for broader literature on IOs, globalization
WTO Director General: Global Governance Based on the EU Model
The EU as a Model for Asia?
THOMAS FRIEDMAN: EU “maybe the biggest example in the world today of globalution” [sic]
MORAVCSIK: “a possible harbinger of future global political structures”
RUGGIE: “a lens through which to view other possible instances of international transformation today”
ANTHONY GIDDENS: EU “forging a way that could, and very likely will, be followed in other regions as well.”
Australian PM: Asian Century, European Model?
The SEA story (NEUTRAL VERSION)
EEC in doldrums in early 1980s… Thatcher leading moves toward liberalization 1985: Delors Commission assembles “Single
Market program” Meanwhile Mitterrand finds Euro-topia March 1985:
All govts endorse White Paper on Single Market Fr/Ital/Ger/Benelux outvote UK/Den/Greece to convene talks
to renegotiate treaty
Negotiations fall 1985, December deal: Vast new liberalizing mandate EEC reform: extension of majority voting
Consider dominant views (I) “Liberal intergovernmentalism”:(problem-structure/rationalist theory of “normal politics in a globalizing context”)
SEA: structural imperatives led govts to “Pan-European trend” to liberalization Seek EEC reform to commit credibly to it
Structuralecon
change
Interest group prefs
for openness
Nat’l govtsaggregate
prefs
Bargain with other govts on policies
Institution-building for
crediblecommitments
LiberalizationInstitutional reform
Consider dominant views (II) Haas-style institutionalism:
SEA: Supranat’l entrepreneurship persuaded govts of EEC-level liberalization through “Single Market 1992” idea And that liberalization requires EEC reform (majority voting)
Structuralecon
change
Interest group prefs
for openness Nat’l govts
indisposed to listen
Govts persuaded to new bargain
LiberalizationInstitutional reform
Nat’l govtsbargain
Create new instits with own agents
Interest group prefs for more openness
IO agents mobilize,
lead, persuade
Support for EEC institutional reform
Sup
port
for
libera
lizati
on
1981
Moravcsik logic
If Moravcsik were strongly right…
Support for EEC institutional reform
Sup
port
for
libera
lizati
on
1984
Moravcsik logic
Support for EEC institutional reform
Sup
port
for
libera
lizati
on1985-6Moravcsik logic
SEA deal
Consider, bargainhow to achieveliberalization
Support for EEC institutional reform
Sup
port
for
libera
lizati
on
1981
Haas-style logic
If Haas-style view were strongly right…
Support for EEC institutional reform
Sup
port
for
libera
lizati
on
1984
Haas-style logic
Support for EEC institutional reform
Sup
port
for
libera
lizati
on
1985-6Haas-style logicSEA deal
Commissionentrepreneurship
Support for EEC institutional reform
Sup
port
for
libera
lizati
on
1981
Actual positions
1984
Support for EEC institutional reform
Sup
port
for
libera
lizati
on
What happens in 1985-6?
[SEA deal]???
??
?
Brits persuaded of reform? 1985: liberalization, no need for reform
Oppose vote to open treaty negotiations In fall 1985, accept linkage of White Paper
& majority votingBut even Moravcsik says they saw “little to lose from
qualified majority voting on the internal market”
Keep fighting: in bargaining, remain until end “major obstacle to an initiative linking internal market liberalization and procedural reform…”
Thatcher accepts a deal Midnight press conference after deal :
“We could have done a great many of the things which have been done here with treaty changes, we could have done without treaty changes, had we agreed to go about it that way. Now, people very much wanted an intergovernmental conference, so they had one…I think we could have done what we have done … that we could have done by agreement without it…but if they wanted to do it this way, so be it.”
French sold on something new? Accept White Paper in 1985 with little
enthusiasmEven initial confusion in 1985 over whether EEC
reform proposed as alternative… In fall 1985 propose text that cuts back on
Commission’s SMP proposalsAnd push monetary, social “embedding” steps
Still fighting, December 1985: “An Anglo-German front has formed against French
positions on three essential subjects: the Internal Market, monetary policies, social policies….”
Mitterrand accepts a deal 1986: “I will not hide that the transaction, which rallied
general support, remained very far below what I would call the vital minimum for Europe…”
Delors “despondent” at result (said an aide) What else did they want?
More interventionist monetary & social policies to embed, balance liberalization
Accept deal to “relaunch” institutions……spend next decade pursuing ways to balance
a liberal Europe
In sum, on the EU story: European leaders have very different ideas
about policy problems and IO solutions Liberalization + institutional change united
in politicsNeither structural imperatives nor Commission
persuasion made the connection Problems of globalization, pressure for
liberalization would not have produced more powerful EU without distinct Europeanist push for institutional reform(and vice versa)