Federalist and Neofunctionalist Integration Theories in Times of Crisis: A Literature Review

Literature Review from the year 2017 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: B, University of Mannheim, language: English, abstract: In this review, I compare federalist and neo-functionalist literature on crisis outcomes in the EU. I seek to answer the posed questions and see which argument upholds best against Brexit, a crisis which is not yet in the post-crisis phase. In the past few years, the European Union has seen three major crises; the Schengen crisis, the euro crisis and Brexit. Though all of these events are individual and unique unto themselves, what similarities do they have? What can European integration theories do in order to help us understand their similarities and differences? This review aims to compare the strength of argument posed by two pieces of literature, each in favor of a different integration theory. The literature should be able to provide clarity to how these crises came about, as well as plausible explanations for their aftermath. While there will be some discussion of the euro crisis and the Schengen crisis, this review will focus on the most recent EU crisis: Brexit. All of the texts are very recent in order to account for the modern context necessary to understand these events. If the literature of one integration theory literature is better at describing and accounting for the variation in crises, then it should be applicable to literature that does not favor one integration theory over others.