ABSTRACT

Some analysts have proposed a diversification of theories and processes to explain Europeanization. Anthony Forster argues that theorists have struggled with the complexity of Europeanization and that theorising has rather unhelpfully been split into considerations of institutions or policymaking. Neofunctionalists believe that the aim of European integration is to create a federal state, whereas intergovernmentalists see Europeanization as a framework through which national governments can be strengthened. The advantage of this framework for the study of the Europeanization of British defence policy is the clear, as are its explicit foundations. An intergovernmentalist framework pushes the researcher to examine Europeanization in three stages: domestic policy formulation, intergovernmental bargaining and pooling of sovereignty into supranational institutions. At the very centre of the UK decision-making framework on the issue of 'Europeanizing' UK defence were key civil service and political appointments. Cabinet Office officials are civil service appointments and thus had a duty of confidentiality to the government and the Prime Minister.