ABSTRACT
There is no shortage of competing policy proposals for the future of European integration. In this chapter, I argue that differences of opinion regarding this future are informed by the frames adopted by policy-makers when thinking about the EU. As I use the concept, frames refer to different ways of thinking about the purpose of a particular policy, institution, or other political initiative. Several potential frames are widely acknowledged to be associated with the European integration project: policy-makers may see the EU as serving to improve the security of their state, to aid its economic growth, to fulfil the historic ideal of European unity, and so on. These frames are not mutually exclusive: the EU can simultaneously improve security and fulfil historic aspirations, for example. However, their mutual compatibility does not imply that they are all equally powerful. Instead, their relative importance is likely to vary systematically, both over time and across countries. That variation is at the core of the model laid out in this chapter.
