Finding the Juste Milieu

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the impact of Europeanization on national sovereignty, through a case study examining the French experience between the Maastricht Treaty of the early 1990s and the Treaty of Lisbon in present day. It approaches the study of Europeanization and French national sovereignty from two directions, addressing both political and social sovereignty. While Europeanization and European integration are most identified with the economic realm, examining political and social sovereignty allows for the development of an understanding of how Europeanization operates as a top-down process. Europeanization began on the supranational level, bringing the states together economically. It then developed on the interstate level, bringing together leaders politically. Currently, it is expanding to the subnational level, uniting the people of all member states socially. Because of this progression, Europeanization has had the most impact on economic sovereignty, less on political sovereignty and the least on social sovereignty. Though Europeanization and national sovereignty are traditionally seen as locked in an either/or battle, this study of France’s experience with political and social sovereignty throughout the past twenty years suggests that Europeanization is not destroying national sovereignty, but rather, allowing for a reinterpretation of national sovereignty and the relationship between nation-states and international actors.