Knowing Europe: Metatheory and Methodology in European Union Studies

Abstract

While hardly the stuff of headlines, metatheory and methodology play crucial roles in any area of scholarly endeavour. Representing the architectural scaffolding upon and operational directives according to which inquiry unfolds, metatheory and methodology do much to guide and implement individual studies, to structure a literature as a whole, and to define and evaluate its contribution to our knowledge of the subject at hand. Arguably, this intrinsic importance is elevated in the field of EU Studies, characterized as it is by an institutionally-unique object of study, an interdisciplinary tradition and inclination, and a substantially transnational research community. In such a setting, the challenges of knowledge production are substantial and the stakes in reconciling work along other dimensions higher. Metatheory and methodology in EU Studies thus play a substantial part in determining the extent to which these characteristics of our research endeavour to serve as obstacles or as opportunities, sources of stress that will muddle our efforts or sources of richness that can be opportunistically leveraged better to know the EU.