Reluctant Europeans

Abstract

Analyzing some thirty policy decisions across three countries and five decades, Sieglinde Gstöhl considers why some countries continue to be "reluctant Europeans." Typically, small and highly industrialized states are expected to be more likely to integrate than are larger or less advanced countries. Why, then, did Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland choose for so long not to join the European Communities? And what accounts today for their differing levels of integration? Gstöhl argues that economic interests alone do not sufficiently explain attitudes toward integration, but rather coexist with—and are often dominated by—domestic political and geohistorical constraints. The lure of improved access to EU markets may fade in the shadow of domestic institutions and societal cleavages, foreign policy traditions, and experiences of foreign rule that touch on feelings of national identity. Thoroughly addressing these issues, Reluctant Europeans offers key insights into the problems associated with deepening integration in an enlarging European Union.

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