International Relations, Comparative Politics, and European Integration

Comprehensive practice flashcards reviewing core concepts, theoretical frameworks, institutions, and legal doctrines across International Relations, European Union integration, and New Institutionalism.

Social Constructivism

An International Relations theory asserting that the fundamental structures of world politics are social rather than material, where social context and interaction constitute identities, identities constitute interests, and interests guide behavior.

Social Facts

Phenomena that exist solely because human actors collectively recognize, believe, and act upon shared understandings—such as money, borders, diplomatic immunity, and sovereignty—contrasting with purely physical or material facts.

Norm

A shared collective expectation regarding appropriate behavior for actors possessing a specific identity within a given social or international context.

Critical IR Theory

A theoretical orientation that interrogates how existing power dynamics, historical hierarchies, and dominant ideologies structure international reality, asking whose interests an order serves and who is marginalized or silenced.

Hegemonic Power (Gramsci)

A form of dominance that operates through manufactured consent rather than direct physical coercion, making a prevailing social and political order seem natural, legitimate, universal, and common sense.

Othering (Orientalism)

A discursive practice, conceptualized by Edward Said, that creates recurring binaries (such as modern versus backward or rational versus irrational) to essentialize subordinate groups and legitimize hierarchical, unequal treatment.

Anarchy (in Realism)

The structural condition of the international system characterized by the absence of an overarching sovereign world government capable of enforcing agreements, guaranteeing state security, or settling disputes.

Self-Help

The structural realist principle dictating that because there is no sovereign protector in an anarchic system, each state must ultimately rely on its own capabilities and resources to ensure its survival.

Relative Gains

A comparative metric where states evaluate cooperative outcomes based on how much another state gains compared to themselves, fearing that disproportionate advances could shift the balance of power.

Balancing (Internal vs. External)

Realist strategies deployed by states to counter a dominant power, achieved internally by expanding domestic military and economic capabilities or externally by forming countervailing alliances.

Defensive Realism (Waltz, $1979$)

A neorealist variant formulated by Kenneth Waltz arguing that the anarchic international system encourages states to maintain their position and maximize security, prompting the formation of a balance of power.

Offensive Realism (Mearsheimer, $2001$)

A structural realist theory formulated by John Mearsheimer stating that anarchy forces states to maximize their relative power and pursue regional hegemony, as states are never fully satisfied with the existing balance of power.

Neoclassical Realism

A realist strand that integrates domestic-level variables—such as state-society relations, leader perceptions, and national identity—as intervening factors between international structural power distributions and state foreign policy.

Liberal Institutionalism (Keohane & Nye)

A theory arguing that international institutions enable sustained interstate cooperation under anarchy by generating reliable information, providing monitoring mechanisms, fostering reciprocity, and lowering transaction costs.

Liberal Internationalism (Kant)

A perspective focusing on unit-level domestic politics, asserting that regime type, internal institutions, societal interest groups, and public opinion shape state preferences and determine foreign policy.

Shadow of the Future

The expectation of ongoing, repeated interactions among actors over time, which increases the anticipated cost of defection and makes cooperative strategies rational.

Complex Interdependence

A condition in which states and societies are bound through multiple cross-border channels—including trade, investment, supply chains, and communication—raising the shared costs of conflict and incentivizing negotiation.

Democratic Peace Theory

The empirical proposition in liberal internationalism stating that democratic states rarely or never wage war against one another, supported by institutional checks, public accountability, and transparency.

Kantian Triangle

A triad of mutually reinforcing factors—international organizations, democratic governance, and economic interdependence—that together mitigate conflict and foster international peace.

EU Competition Policy

An exclusive European Union competence governed by Article $3$ TFEU designed to preserve undistorted market conditions within the Single Market by prohibiting cartels, policing dominant firms, monitoring mergers, and controlling state aid.

Article $101$ TFEU

The European Union treaty provision that prohibits anti-competitive agreements, decisions by associations of undertakings, and concerted practices (such as price fixing or market sharing) that distort competition.

Article $102$ TFEU

The European Union treaty provision that outlaws the abuse of a dominant market position, such as exclusionary predation, unfair tying, or excessive pricing, while leaving market dominance itself legal.

Leniency Program (EU Competition Law)

A formal antitrust whistleblower mechanism that offers immunity from or significant reductions in financial penalties to cartel participants that self-report and provide decisive evidence of illegal collusion.

Gatekeeper (under the DMA)

A large digital platform provider designated under the Digital Markets Act that holds substantial market power, controls access to a broad base of users, and is subjected to ex-ante regulatory duties.

Digital Markets Act (DMA)

An EU regulation establishing ex-ante obligations for designated gatekeeper platforms—such as prohibiting self-preferencing and requiring data interoperability—to prevent market entrenchment before antitrust harm occurs.

State Aid (EU Law)

Government assistance—including selective subsidies, tax breaks, preferential loans, or guarantees—granted to commercial undertakings that risks distorting the level playing field within the internal market.

Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR)

An EU regulatory framework empowering the European Commission to investigate and remedy competitive distortions within the Single Market caused by financial support granted by non-EU governments.

European Union Citizenship

A legal status conferred upon every national of an EU member state by the Maastricht Treaty ($1992$), granting rights such as free movement, local voting eligibility, European Parliament voting rights, and third-country consular protection.

Democratic Deficit

The critique that decision-making power within European Union institutions is insulated from direct citizen control, relying heavily on an appointed executive Commission and elite-driven intergovernmental bargaining.

Permissive Consensus

A historical phase of European integration extending into the late $20\text{th}$ century during which political elites advanced integration projects with the broad, passive acceptance or disinterest of the public.

Constraining Dissensus

The contemporary political dynamic whereby European integration has become intensely politicized and contested by domestic electorates, constraining the policy discretion of national and European elites.

Hard vs. Soft Euroscepticism

Hard Euroscepticism represents principled, total opposition to European integration and calls for outright exit; Soft Euroscepticism reflects opposition to specific EU policies, trajectories, or power expansions without rejecting membership itself.

Deepening vs. Widening

Deepening refers to expanding the functional scope, supranational authority, and policy competencies of the EU; Widening refers to increasing the geographic footprint and number of member states through enlargement.

Schuman Declaration ($1950$)

A proposal presented on May $9$, $1950$, by French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman to pool French and West German coal and steel production under a supranational High Authority, establishing the basis for the ECSC ($1952$).

Treaties of Rome ($1957$)

The founding agreements establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and Euratom, initiating the broader common market structured around the free movement of goods, services, capital, and labor.

Single European Act ($1986$)

The first major constitutional revision of the Treaty of Rome, which established the target deadline of December $31$, $1992$, to complete the Single Market and expanded Qualified Majority Voting to dismantle non-tariff barriers.

Maastricht Treaty ($1992$)

The treaty that formally established the European Union, founded the three-pillar architecture, mapped out the Economic and Monetary Union leading to the single currency (euro), and introduced EU citizenship.

Copenhagen Criteria ($1993$)

The membership conditions established for candidate countries, requiring stable democratic institutions, the rule of law, human rights protection, a functioning market economy, and the capacity to adopt the acquis communautaire.

Spillover (Neofunctionalism)

The core neofunctionalist integration mechanism where integration in one economic sector generates functional bottlenecks or political pressures that compel governments to integrate adjacent policy sectors.

Liberal Intergovernmentalism

Andrew Moravcsik's three-stage integration theory positing that European integration proceeds from domestic preference formation, followed by interstate bargaining shaped by asymmetrical interdependence, and ending with institutional delegation to secure credible commitments.

European Council

The strategic EU institution comprising the heads of state or government of the $27$ member states, along with its permanent President and the Commission President, responsible for defining the EU's broad political direction and priorities.

European Commission

The politically independent executive body of the EU that holds the monopoly on legislative initiative in most policy areas, oversees policy implementation and budget execution, and enforces EU law as the 'guardian of the treaties.'

Council of the European Union

The intergovernmental co-legislative institution where relevant national government ministers meet by policy configuration to debate, amend, and adopt EU legislation, coordinate national policies, and vote via QMV or unanimity.

COREPER (Committee of Permanent Representatives)

The preparatory committee composed of member states' permanent ambassadors (COREPER II) and deputy ambassadors (COREPER I) who negotiate and reconcile technical and political compromises before ministerial Council meetings.

European Parliament

The directly elected legislative body representing EU citizens, holding co-legislative authority alongside the Council under the Ordinary Legislative Procedure, budgetary control, and political oversight over the Commission.

Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)

The supranational judicial authority tasked with interpreting European Union treaties and legislation, ensuring the uniform application of EU law across all member states, and adjudicating disputes between institutions and states.

Qualified Majority Voting (QMV)

The standard voting rule in the Council of the EU requiring the affirmative vote of at least $55\%$ of member states ($15$ of $27$) representing at least $65\%$ of the total EU population to adopt legislation.

Principle of Subsidiarity

The constitutional rule governing non-exclusive EU competences, dictating that the Union shall intervene only if and in so far as policy objectives cannot be sufficiently achieved by member states at national, regional, or local levels.

Principle of Proportionality

The general principle of EU law stating that the content and form of Union action shall not exceed what is strictly necessary to achieve the objectives laid out in the treaties.

Four Freedoms

The foundational pillars of the Single European Market guaranteeing the unhindered cross-border movement of goods, services, capital, and people across all EU member states.

Positive vs. Negative Integration

Negative integration involves the elimination of national barriers, discrimination, and restrictions on trade; positive integration entails constructing common EU-wide regulatory standards, institutions, and harmonized legislation.

Principle of Mutual Recognition

The landmark legal rule established in the $1979$ Cassis de Dijon CJEU ruling stating that a product lawfully manufactured and marketed in one member state must be admitted to the markets of all other member states.

Posted Worker

An employee sent by their employer to provide a temporary cross-border service in another EU member state while remaining under the home-country employment contract.

Country-of-Origin Principle

A controversial single-market concept (initially proposed in the $2004$ Services Directive but later dropped) that would have permitted cross-border service providers to operate under their home state's regulatory and legal standards.

Rational Choice Institutionalism (RCI)

An institutionalist variant that models actors as strategic, utility-maximizing individuals with fixed preferences, defining institutions as formal rules that structure incentives, solve collective action dilemmas, and reduce transaction costs.

Historical Institutionalism (HI)

An institutionalist approach focusing on formal and informal procedures and routines, examining how decisions made at historical critical junctures produce path dependence, policy lock-in, and unintended consequences over time.

Sociological Institutionalism (SI)

An institutionalist variant defining institutions expansively as cultural practices, cognitive scripts, symbols, and moral templates that shape actors' identities and define what behavior is socially legitimate and appropriate.

Calculus vs. Cultural Approach

The calculus approach assumes individuals act strategically based on institutional cost-benefit incentives (characteristic of RCI), whereas the cultural approach assumes institutions provide scripts and worldviews that define how actors interpret reality (characteristic of SI).

Path Dependence

The dynamic wherein institutional choices made at early critical junctures become self-reinforcing over time, creating policy legacies, vested interests, and escalating costs for reversing course.

Structural Business Power

The indirect political leverage private firms wield over governments because economic vitality, job creation, and investment inherently depend on business decisions, leading policymakers to anticipate business needs without active lobbying.

Instrumental Business Power

The direct, intentional political influence exerted by businesses upon government decision-makers using targeted mechanisms such as lobbying, campaign contributions, and public influence campaigns.

Institutional Business Power

The structural entrenchment of business influence that develops when the state relies on private enterprises to deliver public goods (such as education, healthcare, or training), creating policy lock-in and state dependency.

Delegation, Deregulation, and Accretion

Three historical pathways identified by Busemeyer and Thelen through which institutional business power grows: the state entrusts public responsibilities to firms (delegation), scales back state provision (deregulation), or businesses enter public policy areas independently (accretion).

Informal Institutions

Socially shared, unwritten rules, routines, and conventions that are created, communicated, and enforced outside officially sanctioned formal channels, such as Denmark's historical norm of blokpolitik or Japan's amakudari.