ABSTRACT
In this chapter I discuss three CPE schools – regulation theory, the York school of global political economy, and the Amsterdam school of international political economy – and examine how they have been used to explain European integration. I argue that all three can be seen as a product of the rejection of both mainstream political economy, and the economic determinism and structuralism of orthodox Marxism. However, many CPE analyses do not succeed in avoiding a structuralist and reductionist reading of European integration, (1) because of their focus on structural economic change, and (2) because of the lack of a theoretically informed explanation of the relationship between economic structure and class-based political agency and strategy. I conclude by outlining some general criteria for non-structuralist and non-reductionist CPE of European integration.
