ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on competing theoretical approaches and methodological debates in the study of European integration. It illuminates in particular the new institutionalism, which has generated a rich scholarly output since the 1990s. New institutionalism sprung from a critique on the old debate between neofunctionalists and intergovernmentalists, which neglected the role of institutions in the study of European Union (EU) politics. The chapter presents the various theoretical strands which are limited to the most influential theoretical ideas and concepts from the field of political science. There are many different approaches towards explaining developments in EU politics and the state of European integration. The newly developed interest by scholars was greatly influenced by economic revitalization program accelerating the integration process within the European house in the mid-1980s. A lively debate, dominated mainly by American scholars, between adherents of supranational institutionalism (SI) and liberal intergovernmentalism (LI) emerged at the end of the 1980s and continues to imprint upon European integration theories today.
