Divided sovereignties: The Europeanization of domestic political organizations in Western Europe

This dissertation focuses on the effects of integration on two dimensions of political life in Europe: changes in the distribution of power between localities and national governments and the fragmentation of political party systems. Authority relations in Europe are shaped both by the centralization of policy responsibility at the European Union, occurring both through common policies and the initiatives of EU institutions, and by the decentralization of authority relations within the member states, a process of economic restructuring begun by central governments that is reinforced by the Single Market and the European Union regional policies. The combination of centralization and decentralization, it is argued, produces a homogenizing effect on authority structures across the member states.;The institutional influence of the European Union is also argued to have facilitated the rise of both new left and new right parties in the member states. The electoral system of the European Parliament is more easily accessed by small parties, and participation in the European Parliament has legitimated left-libertarian parties, such as the Greens, and right-wing populist parties like the French National Front, and aided their implantation at the national level. Integration also raises important issues in domestic politics concerning national identity and democratic participation which have not been addressed by mainstream parties. New parties championing these issues have created deep divisions in West European Party systems.;The study concludes by arguing that the prominence of the sovereign state paradigm in political science, and the subsequent bifurcation of politics into domestic and international realms, occludes our understanding of European politics, which transgresses these traditional categories. The sovereign state paradigm necessitates a false dichotomy of possible outcomes from integration: either integration creates a new state, or it preserves the sovereign power of the participating states. Neither outcome has obtained in the EU. Based on the findings of the study, an alternative model of political organization is presented, combining aspects of federalism and subsidiarity. Key to the new model is the recognition of multiple and overlapping levels of political organization, the functional divisibility of authority, and the declining relevance of territoriality in international politics.