Diverging Roads to Europe
| Published date | 01 March 1975 |
| Author | Arild Underdal |
| DOI | 10.1177/001083677501000106 |
| Date | 01 March 1975 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Diverging
Roads
to
Europe
ARILD
UNDERDAL
Institute
of
Political
Science,
University
of
Oslo,
Norway
Underdal,
A.
Diverging
Roads
to
Europe.
Cooperation
and
Conflict,
X;
1975,
65-76.
On
the
basis
of
their
’scores’
on
three
dimensions -
market
(inter)dependence,
similarity
of
economies,
and
similarity
of
foreign
policy
orientations -
the
author
tries
to
out-
line
the
main
reasons
why
the
Nordic
countries
chose
different
kinds
of
affiliations
with
the
EC.
Arild
Underdal,
Institute
of
Political
Science,
University
of
Oslo,
Norway.
I.
INTRODUCTION
Preceding
analyses
have
described
the
rise
and
fall
of the
Nordek
project,
and
attempted
to
explain
why
it
never
suc-
ceeded.
The
present
study
examines
how
and
for
what
reasons
the
Nordic
countries
chose
to
aim
at
different
kinds
of
affilia-
tions
with
the
EC,
and
to
what
extent
these
aims
have
so
far
been
fulfilled.
II.
THE
MAIN
DIMENSIONS
To
give
a
full
explanation
of
why
dif-
ferent
kinds
of
affiliations
were
aimed
at
-
and
in
fact
obtained -
we
would
need
a
full
scale
theory
of
integration.
On
the
other
hand,
an
analysis
of
all
potentially
relevant
variables
would
carry
us
far
beyond
the
scope
of
this
chapter.
There-
fore,
we
shall
have
to
restrict
ourselves
to
a
much
less
ambitious
analysis
covering
only
the
three
independent
variables
in-
troduced
below.
Though
we
can
not
claim
that
this
list
is
exhaustive,
we
may
safely
assume
that
it
includes
the
dimensions
most
interesting
for
the
purposes
of
our
analysis.
The
first
variable
we
shall
have
to
look
at
is
that
of
economic
(inter)dependence.
Now,
dependence
may
take
several
di-
rections ;
as
to
foreign
trade,
a
country
may
be
dependent
on
its
customers
and/or
on
its
suppliers.
Generally,
the
customer
perspective
will
be
the
most
interesting
for
our
purposes;
for
most
goods
the
possi-
bilities
and
costs
of
supply
would
prob-
ably
not
be
that
much
affected
by
the
choice
of
affiliation.
We
shall
assume
that,
other
things
being
equal,
the
more
dependent
a
country
is
on
access
to
the
markets
of
another,
the
more
eager
it
will
be
in
securing
or
maximizing
that
access
(i.e.
the
closer
the
affiliation
aimed
at).
This
applies,
of
course,
to
the
EC
as
well
as
to
the
Nordic
countries.
More
concrete-
ly,
we
shall
have
to
measure
the
actual
present
importance
of
the
EC
as
a
market
for
each
of
the
Nordic
countries,
and
vice
versa,
and
also
briefly
consider
the
market
potentials
open
to
the
parties.
The
first
variable
gives
a
rough
idea
of
what
we
might
call
the
’external’
eco-
nomic
conditions
for
integration.
There
are,
however,
internal
aspects
which
may
bring
about
significant
changes
-~
often
negative -
in
the
picture
presented
above.
First,
domestic
producers
may
be
facing
hard
times
on
the
domestic
market;
some
of
them
might
even
be
squeezed
out
as
foreign
suppliers
are
given
free
access.
Second,
the
EC
is
more
than
just
a
free
trade
area;
it
is
a
Community
with
com-
mon
rules
and
policies,
e.g.
in
the
fields
To continue reading
Request your trial