Another Grand Book on European Integration?

Abstract

A Certain Idea of Europe. By Craig Parsons. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2003. 256 pp., $39.95 (ISBN: 0-8014-4086-6). The time has long gone since authors studying European integration would start their books by arguing that the integration process should be seen as following either a neofunctionalist or an intergovernmentalist logic. It is no longer fashionable to make that distinction. These days, if a dichotomy of theories is identified, different labels are used: constructivist versus rationalist (Pollack 2001), governance versus international relations approach (Jachtenfuchs 2001), institutionalist versus structuralist, and so on. More often still, authors shy away from grand theorizing and move instead to examine the usefulness of a selected theoretical approach for explaining a particular dimension of European integration. The last important contribution to the original grand debate was Andrew Moravcsik's (1998) The Choice for Europe , which received praise and criticism and provoked heated discussions about the value of its insights (Diez 1999). The Choice for Europe was seen as a major contribution to the debate because it provided a clear statement of its theoretical assumptions and hypotheses; it also included five major empirical studies to back up its theoretical claims. It was written as if it would be the ultimate contribution to the literature on European integration theory. Craig Parsons's A Certain Idea of Europe can be seen as the ultimate attempt to fight Moravcsik on his own terms. It is a theoretically and empirically rich study of European integration covering five decades. In comparison with Moravcsik, it is equally bold …