"The Dynamics of European Integration: The Role of Supranational Institutions"

No single theory or disciplinary approach can possibly explain a complex, dynamic, and in many respects unique process like European integration. The best we can do is to search for theoretical constructs capable of throwing some light on various aspects and stages of the process, and especially on the strong mutual dependence among its constituent elements. The result will not be an elegant or even a fully coherent theoretical explanation, but this is the normal state of affairs in political science. We are not aware of any grand theory of how, say, the American government operates. What we have is a set of partial and rather disconnected theories about the presidency, the cabinet, the logic of congressional action, the politics of regulation, policy making for social security, the development of judicial review, and so on. It would be very surprising indeed if a single set of conceptual lenses would reveal the logic of Community action. What has been said about statistical inference is "a fortiori" true for political science: it is better to be approximately right than precisely wrong