Abstract
There is an increasingly accepted agreement that the EU and the process of European integration are just too complex to be captured by a single theoretical approach. Hix holds to this point: "We do not have a general theory of American or German politics so why should there be a general theory of the EU?" The political scientists worked from 1950s on with such theories as functionalism, neo-functionalism, realism, neo-realism, rationalism, liberalism. Other theories such as liberal inter-governmentalism, constructivism, institutionalism, and neo-institutionalism are more recent ones. First, the unique phenomenon of European integration was explained by functionalism, or as Mitrany argued, the "functional alternative" as the alternative method to federalist proposals. The integrative dynamic of functionalism is the establishment of successive functional depoliticized organizations, which drain the power from the nation-state.
