The Political Economy of the European Union - Essay Example

Japan in particular has created worrisome situation for European economy and trade, this Asian country "has influenced in monetary and technology domains" (Wayne, 1992). It is essential for the European government and market to realise that it has to re-structure its political and economic policies, the union has to "construct a coherent political presence on the global stage in order to achieve the most attractive accommodation to the new order" (Wayne, 1992). The union shall realise that American economy has been partially able to sustain the implications caused by Chinese and Japanese market, however the political influence of the country supported by its stakes in policy making institutions kept the vital interests of the country protected and intact.

The European Union has to take serious efforts to improve its political authority, and has to take political influence driven trajectory to reach a point of influence and dominance, to reign supreme in this world of competition and challenges (Ben, 2000). The major decisions in the history of the union have been influenced by liberal inter-governmentalist, who developed two-stage approach. The initial approach focused upon determination of primary preferences based upon "constraints and opportunities imposed by economic interdependence" (Andrew, 1993).

The last approach is based upon the results achieved through intergovernmental negotiations, such achievements "were determined by the relative bargaining power of governments and the function incentives for institutionalization created by high transaction costs and the desire to control domestic agendas" (Andrew, 1993). The agricultural policy of the union is based upon the collective financial interests of the producers, the trade policy is also determined based upon such interests. The sets of such desires and preferences describe the societal limits on the governments, the limits of compromise is also determined through such act.

The union has adopted the economic policies similar to the policies practiced by other international groups; the union has decided to improve the efficiency of bargaining through implementation of cost reducing rules. The only difference between the union and remaining international associations is that the union has "delegate and pool sovereignty" (Andrew, 1993), such that the crucial decisions "about linkage out of the hands of national governments" (Andrew, 1993) are taken swiftly. The union has decided to focus upon potential benefits from co-operation, and ignore the domestic political risk.

The union has developed "two-level game", such structure is responsible for the rise in the "initiatives and influence of national government by providing legitimacy and domestic agenda-setting power for the initiatives" (Andrew, 1993). The notion of liberal inter-governmentalism has transformed the union into model of politics, which leads to the specification with reference to process integration (Desmod, 2006).The European Union works on joint-decision mode, all the major economic decisions undertaken by the union needs necessary consent of major parties, if not all.

The mode of operation, where decisions are taken after joint approval which is integration of intergovernmental