Federalism as Political Vision and Theory: Past and Present

Abstract

Although recent debates on the Eurozone crisis have re-launched the federal perspective on European integration, the epistemological status of federalism is still contested. For some, it is a political vision that informs but does not generate a theory of integration and political science models. For others, federalism is eminently a body of theory that produces conjectures with observable implications. In this panel we endeavor to connect the two perspectives, with papers addressing the following issues: what are the theoretical implications of visions contained in classic federalist documents, such as the Ventotene manifesto? How do different federal models (such as theories of clubs or models of fiscal federalism) turn into design tools for political visions? More fundamentally, what is the link between strategy and contingency in the current trajectory of integration, i.e., how much ‘vision’ is needed to generate federal changes fuelled by historical contingencies? What is the role of learning in the federal vision and in the theory of federalism? We welcome three types of papers: historical, theoretical (including political theory proposals), and theoretical papers with observable implications. The panel is sponsored by the ERC project Analysis of Learning in Regulatory Governance (ALREG, http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/ceg/research/ALREG/index.php)

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