Regulation Theory and European Integration. Regime(s) of Accumulation and Modes of Regulation in the European Union

Abstract What can become visible once you turn the European integration in a political economy phenomena problem? Employing Regulation theory we aim to show an alternative heterodox version of understanding European integration and its shortcomings. Turning towards the European integration from the standpoint of Regulation Theory and its model of critical political economy, European integration cannot be separated from the production and reproduction of the prevailing capitalist regime of accumulation. Regulation theory operates with multi-scalar theoretical models coated in a mezzo-level abstractionist approach. Its analytical force it’s doubled by a disruption-oriented approach that offers a reformist critique to the capitalist order as it is reproduced within the confines of the EU. Consequently, the process of integration is structurally constrained by the (supra)national ‘institutional fix’ achieved by the dynamic historical and material configuration of the hegemonic mode of regulation. Assessing the limits and the contributions Regulation theory makes to the debate around the political economy of socio-political presuppositions and conflicts entailed by the integration process in the EU represents the main aim of this article.