ABSTRACT
The central argument of this book is that European integration can best be explained as a series of rational choices made by national leaders. These choices responded to constraints and opportunities stemming from the economic interests of powerful domestic constituents, the relative power of each state in the international system, and the role of international institutions in bolstering the credibility of interstate commitments. I test this account across the five most salient negotiations in the history of the European Community (EC) : the negotiation of the Treaty of Rome signed in 1957, the consolidation of the customs union and Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) during the 1960s, the establishment of the European Monetary System (EMS) in 1978-79, the negotiation of the Single European Act (SEA) in 1985-86, and the Maastricht Treaty on European Union signed in 1991.
