This Research is aimed at becoming a theoretical contribution to the field of European Integration Theory and IR for two reasons. Firstly, this Research proposes the theoretical perspective of Talcott Parsons from sociology and organizational research to scholars within IR Theory. By employing the historical institutionalist and social constructivist IR perspectives and Parsons's 'four-function paradigm' theory, scholars can identify the two effects of a successful institutional design of international political organizations such as the EU: effectiveness and a good public reputation. The Literature Review in Chapter 2 is a theoretical discussion about compatibility of the Parsonians concepts of 'adaptation', a 'holistic approach to policymaking', 'success', and the 'European institutional design' with the European Integration Theory and IR fields. The same Chapter stresses the need to consider the 'ideas' of political leaders in analysing change of institutional design. The second reason for which this Research is a contribution to IR theory is the presentation of eight specific strategies that are likely to generate an organization's success. The eight strategies are institutional conditions making up the 'eight-condition model' of Charles Edquist. This Research adopts an objective and deductive approach that applies the Parsonians theory and the Edquist's 'eight-condition model' to empirical data about European institutions in a cross-sectional and longitudinal research design in the Analysis Chapters 4, 5, and 6. A 'holistic innovation policy approach' to supranational policymaking is employed by the Researcher for the salient circumstances of success to be identified, in order to guide data collection and analysis. The results show that success occurred three times: fully, in the years between 1945 and 1958 and from 1959 to 2002, and partially from 2003 until our days. The concepts of 'adaptation', 'success', 'ideas', the 'four-function paradigm' theory of Parsons and the 'eight-condition model' of Edquist are discussed and ultimately claimed to be both epistemologically compatible and methodologically valid for studies about the success of European integration in the Discussions and Conclusions Chapter.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-177371 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Framba, Alice |
| Publisher | Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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