英文摘要 |
Has European integration, unlike Neorealism’s pessimism about international cooperation, proved that cooperation between sovereign states is possible and permanent? Or has such cooperation in practice fundamentally challenged the concept of anarchy within international relations to prove that a higher authority above sovereign states, at least within a region, is practicable for states to establish hierarchical interaction? By reviewing the history of‘Balance of Power’in Europe and analyzing the studies on anarchical international system, this article finds that European integration is in fact presented symbolically under the joint institutions of the European Union (EU); namely, integration is usually constrained by member states’own consideration for national interests. It therefore is not operated as an‘integrality’by the EU. Through the examination of EU’s military operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Mali, the argument of this article is believed to be convincing. Admittedly, anarchy has not disappeared during the process of European integration. Meanwhile, European integration has not fundamentally challenged the core arguments of Neorealism. |