Euroopan integraation teknokraattista perintöä etsimässä: Jean Monnet'n moderni institutionalismi

Författare

• Mikko Vähä-Sipilä

Abstract

This article discusses Jean Monnet’s ideas on European integration and their relevance to the present and future prospects of the integration process. The research data consists of Monnet’s Mémoires and his published speeches and is approached by means of qualitative textual analysis. Monnet’s logic is analysed as a distinctive way of thinking between David Mitrany’s functionalism and Altiero Spinelli’s ‘democratic federalism’. Some useful points of reference are also provided by the neofunctionalist theory of European integration. The relevance of Monnet’s conceptions, from the point of view of the ongoing integration process, is demonstrated; the technocratic bias of European integration can in part be explained by Monnet’s modern institutionalism. Thus, his political thought can be connected with current debates on democratic legitimation and social integration within the European Union.