France and the Evolution of European Integration

France and Europe is a topic we might expect to connect poorly to broader scholarship. The EU is often described as sui generis, and France’s role in it has arguably been unique. Yet the opposite is true. Of all the literatures on French politics covered in this volume, that on the French relationship to European integration may be most connected to scholarship beyond the French case. Early theories of integration theorized France as similar to other countries. Later work on “Europeanization” consistently situates France in comparative perspective. In both phases the French case has had an outsized impact on broader theoretical debates. This topic area has also seen the emergence of the most internationally prominent French approach to politics; the political sociology approach.