A Phoenix Arises

Abstract

Students of regional integration in Europe have found it difficult to identify the nature of the European Union (EU). For some, it is the product of states rationally deciding to belong to an intergovernmental organisation to promote their utilitarian goals. For others, it is a putative supranational polity whose development requires the progressive diminution of state sovereignty. The authors argue that it is more fruitful to see the EU as a unique kind of regional 'institution'. Its endurance depends upon its ability to reflect and instantiate established social 'practices' rather than convergent 'i!1terests' among member states.