Book Review: Ben Rosamond, Theories of European Integration (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000, 232+xiii pp., £42.50 hbk., £13.99 pbk.)
| Published date | 01 December 2000 |
| DOI | 10.1177/03058298000290030926 |
| Author | Thomas Diez |
| Date | 01 December 2000 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Millennium
974
Ben Rosamond, Theories of European Integration (Basingstoke: Macmillan,
2000, 232+xiii pp., £42.50 hbk., £13.99 pbk.).
If a boo k cover carries the end orsement by three of the mo st eminent scholars of i ts
field, read ers’ expectations will be so high t hat the book wil l eventually either turn
out to be a disappointment, or a truly fascinating and enlightening read. With Ben
Rosamond’s introduction to int egration theories, the latter is the case . The study o f
European in tegration has been lac king an up-to-date text book on its theorie s for far
too long. Now it ha s one, and a brilliant one at that.
On one level, Rosamond provides students for t he first time confronte d with
integratio n theories with a concise overvie w that is full of exa mples an d
entertainin g to read. Six of t he eight chapters are devo ted to a mostly chronologic al
journey throug h th e development of integrati on th eory, from early federalism,
functional ism à la M itrany an d Deutsc h’s transac tionalism to the latest
develop ment of constructivis t appro aches. While the focus is with the various
versions of ne ofunctionalism and intergovernmen talism, Rosa mond ad mirably
manages t o include alter native routes of theorisi ng in his ac count, including
Marxism or c onsociationalism. All are presented with t heir centra l concepts and
arguments, al ong with summaries of the main criti cisms. Rosamond even included
a glossary of cru cial terms. This is the sort of en deavour which easily lends itself to
too much ab straction, yet Rosamon d writes in a clear style without do ing crude
injustice to any of the approaches included in his book.
This ma y be roo ted in the particular sp in that Ro samond gives to his n arrative.
While others may have used a textboo k to promot e the ir part icular version of
integratio n theory, it is his aim t o make students of integrat ion aware of their (ofte n
implicitly ) theoretical assu mptions. Rosamond is mostly con cerned with the merits
and problems of each approach giv en its particular co ntext and problematic, an d
with sho wing how and why it ev olved the way it did. He there fore empha sises the
link o f inte gration theory to larger disci plinary developments a nd theoretical
fashions, which p rovides for a deeper unde rstanding on the sid e of students, but
should also lead eve ry scholar to reflect upon his or her own academic trajectory.
Rosamond’s premise is ‘that we write bet ter analyses of the C [ommon]
A[gricultural] P[olicy] o r the role of German domestic p olitics [in Europ ean
integratio n] if we are t heoretically reflexive’ (p. 3). While this may seem obvious,
it is a ma ntra that Rosamond was wise to repea t throughout his boo k, si nce
theoretical reflexivity is not always p articularly valued in integratio n studies.
On a th ird level, Rosamond is concerned with making the case for the relevance
of internatio nal theory in Europ ean integra tion studies, where co mparativist
approache s have enjo yed increased p opularity in the la st decade or so. His
argument is that the image many Europ eanists have of internatio nal theory is too
strawman-like, does not includ e recent devel opments, and establishe s a misleading
dichoto my of Comparative Politics and Internation al Relations (IR). Instead, the
questioni ng of the stat e and the discussion of internat ional governance in recent IR
Theory may help t o conceptualise the EU’s sy stem of gov ernance in comb ination
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