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Karl W. Deutsch and Transactionalism

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By Jan Pieter Beetz

24 September, 2012

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I want to draw attention to Karl Wolfgang Deutsch (1912 1992) and the integration theory of

Palestine and the anti-politics of peace and

transactionalism. This selection should be understood from my current engagement with early

security

integration theory and legitimacy. Nowadays, his theory often seems to have either been conflated to
an early version of functionalism or merely mentioned in the EU integration debate. Some argue
transactionalism is not a real theory of European integration. I will leave this contestation aside.

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Instead, I will proceed with a summary of transactionalism as developed in Political Community and the
North Atlantic [Political Community] and then contend that it offers potentially relevant insights into the
contemporary debates about the EUs legitimacy.

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Political Community aims to introduce a theory of political integration: the theory of transactionalism.

democracy

The explicit assumption is that political integration is a means to stabilize the nation-state system in

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order to prevent war. The central object of the historical-comparative analysis is the creation of

policy governance human rights

security communities (defined as political communities without internal wars). Yet, the theory focuses

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not exclusively on political, but also social and economic processes. An important distinction is
between amalgamated and pluralistic security communities. The former are states, whilst the latter
imply regional regimes established by largely autonomous states. Three conditions need to exist for a
stable pluralist regime: 1) compatibility of major values, 2) response to each others needs without
recourse to violence, 3) and mutual predictability of societal, political and economic behaviour.
Communications between states will lead to a sense of community between them. Thus,
transnationalism contends that an increase in transactions of a communicative nature(!) would lead to
levels of trust necessary for political integration into a security community.
Transactionalism might well be relevant to the contemporary debate on the EUs legitimacy. An

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influential federalist/post sovereign position may be characterized as follows: Europes peoples will or
should become loyal to the European regime, since European integration furthers their interest and

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its institutions embody core values, such as democracy and human rights. Transactionalism
acknowledges the importance of shared interests and values. However, these function as background

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conditions for integration, but they do not lead to integration per se. Communications through
transactions are the key to sustained (and further) integration. This perspective might help explain
Europes elites pushing integration without always clear rational national interests (contra
intergovernmentalism), besides a simultaneous lack of popular support despite shared interests and

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values. The elites communicate often (many transactions), but the populations do not (few

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transactions). The legitimacy discrepancy becomes a function of the high levels of trust and

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willingness to cooperate between elites and the lower levels among the populations. A hypothesis to

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A short post does not allow me to present all the details and relevance of transactionalism, let alone
all of Deutschs work and many (valid) criticisms against it. Political Community offers both reasons to
expect further European integration but also disintegration. In addition, it is full of historical insights
with the potential to trigger further research on political integration, such as the importance of
consensus among intellectuals, the limitations of economic ties, and the need for innovation. In the
lights of the current crises in Europe, where even the elite transactions seem to break down, Political
Communities and other works by Deutsch might well be food for thought and research once again.
Further reading/sources

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Deutsch most often quoted book in relation to European integration is:

Deutsch, K. W., et al. (1968). Political Community and the North Atlantic Area. Princeton, New Jersey,
Princeton University Press.
His introductions to IR and Politics Science also contains concise chapters on transationalism and
European integration.
Deutsch, K. W. (1968). The Analysis of International Relations. Englewood Cloffs, New Jersey,
Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Deutsch, K. W. (1974). Politics and government. How People Decide Their Fate. Boston, Houghton
Mifflin company.
Most books on (early) European integration mention transactionalism. I like Ben Rosamonds
discussion of Karl Deutsch:
Rosamond, B. (2000). Theories of European Integration. Houndsmill, Basingstoke, Hampshire,
MacMillan Press Ltd.
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Tags: Deutsch, EU, European Integration, European Union, Karl Deutsch, Legitimacy, Transactionalism

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Limportanza del roaming nellintegrazione dellEuropa | Tucidide says:

12 September, 2013 at 9:34 am
[] che potranno comunicare piu facilmente. Il numero delle transazioni fra le persone, scriveva Karl Deutsch, e di
fondamentale importanza nel processo di creazione di una comunita di sicurezza, []
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