The 1960s was a period of optimism for integration. This was marked by the pressure exerted by the European Economic Community, which demanded rapid integration. According to Hoffman, integration is “a vindication of the nation-state as the basic unit” (Hoffman, 1966, p. 157). The integration process involves a series of bargains between sovereign states, which pursue the national interests. This view is often labeled as intergovernmentalism. For every student of world order the critical issue is usually the fate of the nation-state.
Considering the nuclear age, it is evident that the fragmentation of the world in to a multitude of units, which claim independence, pose avenues of instability in peace and makes such moves illogical for welfare. The nation-state is a form of social integration and a factor of international non-integration . Among the parts of the world, men of good will in Western Europe always thought the nation-state could be suspended. However, this has not occurred according to the thoughts of the men in Western Europe, which would have been in the frontline in steering this move to suspend nation-state.
However, in light of their thought, the statesmen invented significant schemes intended to move western Europe ‘beyond the nation state’. Nevertheless, the nation-state has still remains since nations in Western Europe have been unable to stop time or even fragment space. Notably, all international systems have their inner logic and its unfolding stemming from diversity of domestic determinants, geo-historical situations, as well as external aims among its units . The nation-states is decisively perpetuated by new set of conditions governing and restricting the rule of force. European integration is the Western Europe’s most original feature. Therefore, this sets the ground for the logic of integration in terms of diversity and integration.
References
Hoffman, S 1966, Obstinate or Obsolete? The Fate of the Nation-State and the Case of Western Europe, Daedalus, vol. 95, no. 3 , pp.157-163.
