Exploring Differentiated Disintegration in a Post-Brexit European Union

In the aftermath of the British referendum to leave the European Union and the European Commission's ‘White Paper on the Future of Europe’, it is not only time to take stock of the existing literature on differentiated integration, but also to rethink the perimeters of disintegration. We argue that phenomena such as Brexit embrace forms of differentiation which trigger the need for conceptualizing differentiated disintegration altogether. This article first sketches the path of the scholarly debate in a chronological way to grasp the breadth of existing literature. Second, it discusses differentiated disintegration as a potentially new area for research. Mapping several scenarios for future…

Party Positions on Differentiated European Integration in the Nordic Countries: Growing Together, Growing Apart?

The Nordic countries constitute an interesting laboratory for the study of differentiated European Integration. Even though Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden share some historical, cultural, socio-economic and political characteristics, all those countries have ultimately opted for a different kind of relationship with the EU. Whereas Finland, a member of the Eurozone since its inception in 1999, has been considered to be part of the Union’s ‘inner core’ for quite some time, Iceland and Norway, in contrast, have opted to remain outside the EU albeit closely associated via the European Economic Area Agreement. The variation of relationships has also been reflected in Nordic parti…

A Differentiated European Union

Differentiation in the EU has substantially increased. It does not only refer to instances of (differentiation in) integration, but also (potential) disintegration. Differentiation can often be causally traced back to crises, yet it should not be equated with ‘crisis’. However, the literature has only scarcely discussed the putative link between crisis and differentiated integration. Fundamentally, demands for differentiation need to be treated as both a cause and an effect of integration. Thus, differentiation should be acknowledged as a persistent feature of European integration. The chapter discusses the development of differentiation in European integration and reflects upon the scholar…

Conclusion

Differentiated integration and disintegration in the European Union : State-of-the-art and ways for future research

Presentation on department page: http://www.uia.no/no/portaler/om_universitetet/oekonomi_og_samfunnsvitenskap/statsvitenskap_og_ledelsesfag/ forskning_isl/isl_working_papers_series Following the United Kingdom (UK)’s vote to leave the European Union (EU) on 23 June 2016, the process of European integration is now at a critical juncture. Leaving aside Greenland’s departure from the European Community in 1983 – because of its political union with Denmark, Greenland has been recognized as one of the Overseas Countries and Territories of the EU –, the United Kingdom is the first member state in the history of European integration to engage in a process of disintegration which may ultimately see…

Differentiation in the European Union in Post-Brexit and -Pandemic Times

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Differentiated Integration and the Nordic States: the Case of Norway

Presentation on department page: http://www.uia.no/no/portaler/om_universitetet/oekonomi_og_samfunnsvitenskap/statsvitenskap_og_ledelsesfag/ forskning_isl/isl_working_papers_series Since the early 1990s, the relationship between Norway and the European Union (EU) became increasingly complex and accounts for about three quarters of the European legislation. Despite the outcome of the 1994 referendum on EU membership, the various Norwegian governments progressively decided to keep on deepening their cooperation with Brussels. The main objectives of this paper are to describe this complex Norway-EU relationship, how it evolved since the early 1990s, and how it constitutes a relevant example o…

Differentiated Integration and Disintegration in the EU after Brexit : Risks versus Opportunities

Differentiation is becoming an increasingly salient feature of European integration. The multi‐faceted European crisis and the subsequent Brexit vote (paving the way for a ground‐breaking case of differentiated disintegration) have led scholars and practitioners to think about the consequences of differentiated integration. This article draws on five well‐established models of differentiation experienced by countries both inside and outside the Union: the EEA model; the Danish model of (quasi‐)permanent differentiation; the Swedish model of de facto differentiation; the instrumental model; and the British model of differentiated disintegration. It addresses the different risks and opportuni…

Differentiation, differentiated integration and disintegration in a ‘post-Brexit-era’

In contrast to the ‘ever closer Union among the peoples of Europe’ invoked in the preamble of the Treaty of Rome, Frank Schimmelfennig and Thomas Winzen ponder whether the European Union (EU) is ‘growing ever looser’. Differentiation can take various forms which are often intertwined, such as functional, institutional, spatial/territorial as well as temporal differentiation. In 1998, Petersen studied Denmark’s integration policy in what he called a ‘dilemma’ between influence capability and stress sensitivity. With the Great Recession of 2007This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book 2008, the EU entered a new multi…