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Article: Introduction: European Integration and National Political Systems.
- Article from:
- West European Politics
- Article date:
- October 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Frank Cass & Company Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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EUROPEAN INTEGRATION AND DOMESTIC POLITICAL CHANGE
The process of European integration has been studied and analysed at great length in a variety of academic disciplines. The main focus of this endeavour is usually to try to explain institution-building, policy integration or policy outputs at the European level. In the main theories of integration, domestic politics is a central explanatory factor of the integration process. For example, in the early 'neo-functionalist' theory of Ernst Haas and his followers, one of the driving forces of the delegation of policy functions to the European level was the battle between domestic interest groups, political parties ...