Introduction

Why a separate chapter on the European Union (EU) in a volume on process tracing? Is there anything distinct about the analysis of European politics that would merit a special treatment? In general, the answer is no. The methodological challenges of studying the EU are pretty much the same as in other areas of research (although, see Lyall, this volume, Chapter 7, on process tracing and civil war), and EU scholars have used the same toolboxes as those working on other polities. There is one major field of inquiry, however, in which process tracing has taken pride of place for both empirical and theoretical reasons: the study of European integration.

The study of European integration is about the development of the EU: the transfer of tasks from the state to the European level of governance, the growth of EU competences, and the expansion of membership. By contrast, the study of EU politics and policies deals with elections, legislation, compliance, and other topics that are well established in the analysis of other political systems. Standard methods of quantitative or comparative analysis are commonly used in these areas.