Adapting to Europe: Is it Harder for Britain?

ABSTRACT

Britain has had difficulties adapting to European integration. The problems result not so much from the EU-related changes in national policies, which have actually been rather moderate, or from the EU-related changes in governance practices, although these have been significant, affecting national institutional structures, policy-making processes and representative politics. They do not even follow from the serious challenges that the EU-related changes in governance practices pose for traditional ideas about democracy. Rather, they come from the lack of a discourse capable of legitimating such changes. To demonstrate this, the article considers Britain's problems in comparative perspective with those of France, which has had greater changes in policies and practices, greater challenges to national ideas, but a more legitimating discourse, and Germany and Italy, where changes in the practices and challenges to ideas have not been as significant.