European Integration and Sovereignty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

European Integration and Sovereignty - Essay Example This essay stresses that integration has effects on member states over time. It can also dictate how such member states can go ahead and restrain the actions of the member states who designed them. Path dependency is a key feature of institutionalism. Here, decisions made about the member states in the past have a significant impact on future outcomes and vice versa. The paper has looked at the need for European integration and why this need superseded sovereignty of the various states making up European integration. The European Union is used as the most distinctive, and perhaps, most successful union in history. In a span of 50 years, or so, sovereignty and authority has shifted from national European national governments, not to supranational levels with European Union, but also to sub national ranks such as local authorities and regional assemblies. Policy-making is even and fairly constant. Perhaps the main reasons for European integration include peaceful co-existence among members states, improved bilateral states, a more unified way of doing business, need for political stability, and most importantly aversion of further wars. Even since the creation of integrated bodies such as EU, Europe has enjoyed considerable peace. Trade has improved and member states have co-operated mutually without worries of losing part of their sovereignty. If anything, the EU, for instance has well stipulated and articulated laws that define members rights, provisions and sovereignty rights. Such bodies only act as an umbrella and a unifying factor.