Under Construction @ Keele 2019 summer 2019, vol 5 issue 1 | Page 20

A Theoretical Comparison of Liberal Intergovernmentalism and Rational-
Choice Institutionalism in the Context of EU Immigration Policy
Natalie Ilsley
Since the 1986 Single European Act (SEA), European integration theory has had to
respond to the European Union’s (EU) role as a new, non-state actor in immigration
policy. As it is still expanding, encompassing new fields and issues, the influence of
the EU on the immigration policies of its member states has been subject to
theoretical debate. This review presents a comparison between Menz (2015) and
Givens & Luedtke (2004). Taken together, they provide an informed account of
internal and external immigration policy developments. However, they put forth
two separate theoretical approaches and analytical frameworks: the first by
Givens & Luedtke with a Liberal Intergovernmentalist (LIG) approach and, the
second by Menz with a Rational-Choice Institutionalist (RCI) approach. The aim is
to analyse and compare the authors’ analytical frameworks, given their
explanations of EU immigration policy developments through different theoretical
‘lenses’.
Keywords | Immigration Policy; European Union; Integration; Liberal Intergovernmentalism; Rational-
Choice Institutionalism
Since the 1986 Single European Act (SEA), European integration theory has had to respond to
the European Union’s (EU) role as a new, non-state actor in immigration policy. As it is still
expanding, encompassing new fields and issues, the influence of the EU on the immigration
policies of its member states has been subject to theoretical debate. The two papers reviewed
here cover a portion of this timeline—the period roughly bracketed by the freedom of
movement (part of the ‘four freedoms’ codified at SEA) to the beginning of the 2015 refugee
crisis. Taken together, they provide a comprehensive, informed account of internal and
external immigration policy developments. Givens and Luedtke provide an overview of
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