Theoretical Exploration In The Eu Constitutional Process

As an important macroscopic theory of the theories of European integration, liberal inter-governmentalism is used to explain some important negotiations in the process of European Integration. After the member states the European Union approved the Lisbon Treaty, they elected the President of European Council and "foreign minister" on November 19, 2009, and the Lisbon Treaty came into force on December 1st. This is an important breakthrough in the process of European integration as well as a great breakthrough in the EU constitutional process, representing the solution to the problems of institutional reform and inefficiency which beset EU for years, through the form of a treaty. This is a new case of negotiations. Is it possible that liberal inter-governmentalism can be used to explain the new case satisfactorily? This paper aims to validate various assumptions of liberal inter-governmentalism by analyzing the EU constitutional process, and improves the theory by making certain modifications.The basic idea of the paper is to explain the EU constitutional process in light of the analytical framework of liberal inter-governmentalism, and amend some points of the theory which are not consistent with the practice. The paper is naturally divided into three parts according to the three-layer analytical framework, namely the layers of the formation of national preference, intergovernmental negotiations and institutional choice, and revises the parts of the theory which do not accord with the practice in the process of analysis to improve the theory.The research methods which are mainly used in this paper are as follows: first of all, the method of historical analysis is used to probe into the origin of liberal inter-governmentalism and expound the component parts of the theory. The analysis focuses on the evolution, the core ideas and the main contents of the theory on the basis of the collation of the related theoretical literature. Secondly, the dialectical materialist method is applied in the bifurcated approach to find the advantages of the theory and grasp its theoretical defects. It is important to transcend the theory by deepening the understanding of its development tendency. Finally, the method of comparative analysis is used to make critical comments on liberal inter-governmentalism and summarize its defects.The discussion and analysis prove that liberal inter-governmentalism is a theory with a strong explanatory power, which can explain logically the EU constitutional process in European integration, though it has some defects. In view of its theoretical effectiveness, liberal inter-governmentalism will continue to be an important theory among European integration theories.