"New institutionalism, the single market and EU governance"

This paper seeks to suggest a way in which the different levels of research analysis on governance of the European Union can be linked up through application of a middle-range theory, namely new institutionalism. The paper draws on the methods used in, and findings of, a study of the governance of the Single European Market (1985-96) (Armstrong and Bulmer 1997 forthcoming). The paper has four parts. The first simply seeks to identify what "the governance of the EU" is and how to have a complete picture of it. The second part looks at new institutionalism--specifically its historical institutionalist variant--and locates this approach at the intersection of comparative politics, international relations and legal theory, the core areas affected by EU governance. Can historical institutionalism benefit from this location to "capture" the different facets of EU governance? And if so, how? In the third part attention is focused on the Single European Market, with a view to showing how historical institutionalism may encompass the scope of EU governance. Finally, the paper aims to draw some conclusions about whether historical institutionalism is "up to the job."