Liberalism: Does Economics Drive EI?

Liberal intergovernmentalism was invented in order to deal with the phenomena of rising interdependencies since the 1970s. It argues that international organizations (such as the EU) are created by national governments in order to manage economic interdependence. In this chapter, it is argued that within the European common market, and especially within the euro area, the concept of economic interdependence does not hold any more. It has to be substituted by the concept of economic externalities that need to be governed.