Postfunctionalism

Question 1

Creation of postfunctionalism

Answer 1

Hooghe and Marks came up with the theory of postfunctionalism. They were not satisfied with neofunctionalism and liberal intergovernmentalism, because these theories conceive EU integration as a cooperative process among interest groups and governments.

Question 2

Origins of postfunctionalism

Answer 2

1. Inspiration from comparative politics; the idea of party competition being key to understanding how party-based democratic political systems work. For example far left and far right being more Eurosceptic than middle parties.
2. Political sociology; Identity formation. Who belongs to a community? Also political cleavages, how are different social groups structured?
3. Political psychology; What shapes voters’ opinions and attitude and way of thinking. Priming (what information is presented), framing (how is the information presented) and cueing (linking information to values) are important.
4. Multilevel governance. Effective governance involves many different levels with the principal of subsidiarity.
5. Politicisation. Tries to incorporate politicisation of the EU in EU integration thinking.

Question 3

Idea behind postfunctionalism

Answer 3

The GAL-TAN cleavage has been the actual cleavage since the early 2000s, with Green, Alternative and Liberatarian on the one side, and Traditional, Authoritarian and Nationalist on the other; progressive versus conservative. They believed that the political spectrum is no longer based on the original cleavages and the familiar horizontal left-right spectrum, but there is another axis: the vertical GAL-TAN one.

Question 4

The core assumptions of postfunctionalism

Answer 4

1. Functionality and efficiency are not sufficient to ensure public support (which neofunctionalism suggests, organising government at the level at which problems occur).
2. Public opinion affects voting on EU matters, and therefore European integration.
3. EU integration also affects public opinion.
4. States do not have a monopoly on representation (which liberal intergovernmentalism suggests, states are unitary actors). (Opposition) Political parties are key in integration.
5. Public opinion on the EU is structured along economic and identity cleavages. Identity is often decisive.

Question 5

Postfunctionalist model on how European integration works

Answer 5

1. Mismatch between the ‘form’ (jurisdictional framework) and the pressure to keep functioning, leading to a discussion on reform.
2. The public/interest groups pick up on this discussion (or don’t) and the role of the political parties (if they pick up on it or not) in this discussion is central to how this discussion evolves.
3. Arena rules are the formal rules that steer a discussion into a certain area.
4. Issues go to the mass-arena when the discussion is politicised, with an identity (gal/tan) or distributional (economic left-right) logic. There is also the interest group-arena, where the discussion goes if it is depoliticised, there is ‘business as usual’ and there is distributional logic.
5. The conflict is structured according to a certain logic, resulting from the choice of the arena: an identity logic leads to a GAL-TAN spectrum, whereas an economic/distributional logic leads to a left-right-spectrum.

Question 6

Empirical critique on postfunctionalism

Answer 6

The empirical critique on postfunctionalism is that it does not explain integration despite politicisation. (For example Eurocrisis where there was a lot of politicisation, but more integration)

Question 7

Theoretical critique on postfunctionalism

Answer 7

The theoretical critique on postfunctionalism is that the theory is vague on how identities are constructed and change.

Question 8

Aftermath of the postfunctionalist model

Answer 8

More integration makes it so:
1. EU issues more often end up in the mass arena
2. There is more GAL-TAN polarisation in public opinion and party systems
3. There will be even more issues in the mass arena
4. There will be even more polarization