IR Theories Debate of European Integration

Jing Xu^*, Shiyong Shen

Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai, China.

DOI: 10.4236/ojps.2014.44022                

Abstract

Since the Peace Treaty of Westphalia, the nation-states have been always important actors in international relations and on the international stage. However with the process of European integration, the traditional attitudes have brought out great challenges to existing theories and generated an academic debate. Deepening and enlargement of European integration have also led to the development of IR theories. Now three competing theories emerged from IR to dominate the debate over the development in European integration and there were the neo-functionalism, the inter-governmentalism and the multi-level governance.

Keywords

Neo-Functionalism, Inter-Governmentalism, Multi-Level Governance

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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