Rethinking the European Polity: Conceptual Approaches to European Integration

The polity of European Union (EU) has been characterized by different theories and concepts over time. At the beginning, IR theories such as Neofunctionalism and Intergovernmentalism were often referred to in explaining the process of European integration. The fierce competition in the global market since the mid 1980s gave rise to the new impetus of boosting further integration by adopting the Single European Act (SEA). This was a turning point that created a new image of the EU as a regulatory state. More complexity in decision-making procedure, which involves diverse actors, engendered the necessity of introducing new approaches in identifying the nature of the EU system. Multi-level Governance (MLG), for instance, explores the EU’s governance system by engaging, not only state actors and supranational actors, but sub-national actors as well. The EU is now undertaking a major transformation by adopting the Lisbon Treaty. How the changes brought by the Treaty will affect the ongoing integration process will be seen in time, especially when the EU encounters the hurdles of Euro crisis that are sure to come.