At Odds with Europe
| Published date | 01 September 1997 |
| DOI | 10.1111/1467-9248.00104 |
| Date | 01 September 1997 |
| Author | Helen Wallace |
| Subject Matter | Article |
At Odds with Europe
HELEN WALLACE
Sussex European Institute, University of Sussex
Britain remains at odds with the theory and practice of European integration,
despite almost 25 years of membership of the European Community (EC), later
European Union (EU). The puzzle is the failure to ®nd a point of equilibrium in
European policy in terms of either domestic politics or relationships with other
member states. Two episodes of positive engagement stand out: the determined
British support in the early 1980s for the single European market, and John
Major's ¯eeting attempt on arrival in 10 Downing Street to position Britain `at
the heart of Europe'. But these eorts have been overshadowed by periods of
tension and acrimony on both the big `history-making' decisions and the day-
to-day subjects of European policy.
By 1997 British policy was characterized by its lonely search for the defence of
the `national interest' and by bitter arguments inside the Conservative Govern-
ment and Party. In exasperation Britain's partners in the EU were forging plans
to `deepen' integration by escaping from British vetoes. British experience of
European integration has been persistently quite dierent from that of France,
the obvious comparator country, and contrasts also with that of Spain, another
late-joiner. It might have been expected that, given time, the British would adapt
to a presumed norm through a process of `retarded Europeanization'. It is
precisely this which has not occurred.
This article addresses the puzzle of how the Conservatives' long period of
oce produced persistent controversy rather than equilibrium in European
policy. It does so from two standpoints: ®rst, by highlighting some historical
and contingent factors of British politics over the period, and, second, by a kind
of benchmarking derived from the aggregate experience of other EU member
states.1
British Singularity
There is a cogency to the view that the British situation has simply been dierent
vis-a
Á-vis the `European project'. First, late-joining was no accident of history,
but re¯ected a widely shared policy preference in the UK. Second, the political
and economic geography of this group of islands o the north-west coast of
Europe bred a deeply-based detachment from the continental mainland.
Thirdly, the key arguments about Europe became focal points for controversies
within rather than between political families.
#Political Studies Association 1997. Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 CowleyRoad, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main
Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
1This article draws on a number of previous publications, including since 1986 annual essayson
British European policy in W. Weidenfeld and W. Wessels (eds), Jahrbuch der Europa
Èischen
Integration (Bonn, Europa Union Verlag) and `Britain out on a Limb', Political Quarterly,66
(1995), 46± 58. It also drawson some personal experience in government service from 1978 to 1985.
Political Studies (1997), XLV, 677±688
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