ABSTRACT
In the early twenty-first century, theorists of the EU often wondered whether
they were concerned in any way with the study of European integration.
The problem was not just that there were a number of different definitions
of integration; there were also doubts about whether a general view of
integration was now possible. The usual conclusion was that there were so
many different definitions that seeking any overall view was a futile exercise.
At the same time, there was an odd disjunction between the rapidly
increasing knowledge of the EU, linked with a multitude of theories, and the sense of approaching a period of possible disintegration found among a
number of scholars and commentators. The author was tempted to spec-
ulate about whether there was any link between the scholarly development
of ‘bringing European studies in from the cold’, as Helen Wallace put it,1
and the increasing problems with the health of the creature under scrutiny.
