ISSUE: 2/2026

  • Volume 30
  • Number 2
  • 2026

Subscribe NEWSLETTER

Studia Europejskie –
Studies in European Affairs

ISSN: 1428-149X
e-ISSN: 2719-3780

Ccbync License

License

Articles published in the journal are under a Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial – No Derivatives 4.0 International License

Development Of Scientific Journals

Publication co-financed by Ministry of Science and Higher Education pursuant to the Regulation of the Minister of Education and Science of 3 August 2021 (Journal of Laws of 2021, item 1514) on the “Development of Scientific Journals” programme.

Publikacja dofinansowana przez Ministerstwo Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego na podstawie rozporządzenia Ministra Edukacji i Nauki z 3 sierpnia 2021 r. (Dz. U. z 2021 r. poz. 1514) w sprawie programu „Rozwój czasopism naukowych”.

Idub Logo

Publication co-financed by the University of Warsaw within the “Excellence Initiative – Research University” programme.

Czasopismo otrzymało dofinasowanie w ramach Programu „Inicjatywa Doskonałości – Uczelnia Badawcza”.

From Nation-State to Member State: European Integration and the Transformation of Statehood

Abstract

As a consequence of changes taking place both in domestic politics and in the international milieu – above all as a result of states joining various structures, particularly those centred on integration – the role and position of states are undergoing transformation. Although nation-states remain central actors in international relations, they now share this sphere with an increasing number of other political entities. This article aims to illustrate the transformation of the nation-state within the context of European integration processes. We are witnessing a shift away from the nation-state paradigm towards that of the Member State. Consequently, this analysis argues that the term “Member State” is more than a semantic distinction; rather, it reflects deeper changes in the nature of statehood. The study employs dogmatic, legal-institutional, and comparative methods.

References

Afilalo, A. and Patterson, D. (2012) Statecraft and the Foundations of European Union Law in Dickson, J. and Eleftheriadis, P. (eds.) Philosophical Foundations of European Union Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 275–306.

Baquero Cruz, J. (2008) “The Legacy of the Maastricht-Urteil and the Pluralist Movement”, European Law Journal. Vol. 14(4), pp. 389–422. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0386.2008.00419.x.

Bartolini, S. (2005) Restructuring Europe: Centre Formation, System Building, and Political Structuring between the Nation State and the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/0199286434.001.0001.

Bickerton, Ch.J. (2016) From nation-states to member states: European integration as state transformation in The search for Europe: contrasting approaches. BBVA, pp. 202–215. Available at: https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/BBVA-OpenMind-book-the-search- for-europe-contrasting-approaches-1.pdf (Access 30.04.2026).

Bickerton, Ch.J. (2017) Nation-State to Member State: Trajectories of State Reconfiguration and Recomposition in Europe in King, D. and Le Galès, P. (eds.) Reconfiguring European States in Crisis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 45–61.

Bideleux, R. (2012) European Integration: The Rescue of the Nation State? in Stone, D. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Postwar European History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 379–405.

Binder, Ch. and Janig, P. (2023) “The European Union’s Participation in the Creation of Customary International Law and Its Impact on Member State Sovereignty”, European Papers. Vol. 8(3), pp. 1645–1661. DOI: 10.15166/2499-8249/734.

Bottner, R. and Blanke, H-J. (eds.) (2024) The Rule of Law Under Threat. Eroding Institutions and European Remedies. Cheltenham England: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Brown, Ch. (2022) The State and Sovereignty in Hay, C., Lister, M. and Marsh, D. (eds.) The State. Theories and Issues. London: Bloomsbury, pp. 189–206.

Calliess, Ch. and van der Schyff, G. (eds.) (2019) Constitutional Identity in a Europe of Multilevel Constitutionalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/9781108616256.

Cassese, S. (2017) From the Nation-State to the Global Polity in King, D. and Le Galès, P. (eds.) Reconfiguring European States in Crisis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 78–96.

Cogan, J.K., Hurd, I. and Johnstone, I. (eds.) (2016) The Oxford Handbook of International Organisations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Consolidated versions of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (2016) Official Journal C202, pp. 1–388. Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:9e8d52e1-2c70-11e6-b497-01aa75ed71a1.0006.01/DOC_1&format=PDF (Access 30.04.2026).

Contreras, J.M., Nascimento, D. and Simão, L. (2017) “Challenges to the nation-state in the context of European integration: an overview of the tension between citizenship rights and neoliberalism”, European Politics and Society. Vol. 19(2), pp. 197–212. DOI: 10.1080/23745118.2017.1402145.

Convention on Rights and Duties of States adopted by the Seventh International Conference of American States (1933) Montevideo. 26.12, pp. 19–43. Available at: https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/LON/Volume%20165/v165.pdf (Access 30.04.2026).

Craig, P. and De Burca, G. (2024) EU law: text, cases, and materials. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/he/9780198915522.001.0001.

Domańska, M., Miąsik, D. and Szwarc, M. (2024) National Courts and the Application of EU Law: Lessons from Poland. New York: Routledge.

Dobbs, M. (2014) “Sovereignty, Article 4(2) TEU and the Respect of National Identities: Swinging the Balance of Power in Favour of the Member States?”, Yearbook of European Law. Vol. 33(1), pp. 298–334. DOI: 10.1093/yel/yeu024.

Fabbrini, F. (2025) “The recovery and resilience facility as a new legal technology of European governance”, Journal of European Integration. Vol. 47(1), pp. 85–103. DOI: 10.1080/07036337.2024.2361830.

Fassbender, B. (2023) “Are the EU Member States Still Sovereign States? The Perspective of International Law”, European Papers. Vol. 8(3), pp. 1629–1643. DOI: 10.15166/2499-8249/733.

Forder, J. and Menon, A. (eds.) (1998) The European Union and National Macroeconomic Policy. London and New York: Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9780203196038.

Genschel, P. and Zangl, B. (2014) “State Transformations in OECD Countries”, Annual Review of Political Science. Vol. 17, pp. 337–354. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-polisci-061312-113943.

Genschel, P. and Zangl, B. (2017) The Rise of Non-State Authority and the Reconfiguration of the State in King, D. and Le Galès, P. (eds.) Reconfiguring European States in Crisis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 62–77.

Grabbe, H. (2006) The EU’s Transformative Power. Europeanization Through Conditionality in Central and Eastern Europe. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Grimm, D. (2016) Constitutionalism: Past, Present, and Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hay, C. (2014) “Neither real nor fictitious but «as if real»? A political ontology of the state”, British Journal of Sociology. Vol. 65(3), pp. 459– 480. DOI: 10.1111/1468-4446.12082.

Hay, C. and Lister, M. (2022) Introduction in Hay, C., Lister, M. and Marsh, D. (eds.) The State. Theories and Issues. London: Bloomsbury, pp. 1–24.

Heinkelmann-Wild, T. and Jankauskas, V. (2020) “To Yield or Shield? Comparing International Public Administrations’ Responses to Member States’ Policy Contestation”, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice. Vol. 24(3), pp. 296–312. DOI: 10.1080/13876988.2020.1822144.

Hine, D. and Kassim, H. (eds.) (1998) Beyond the Market: The EU and National Social Policy. London: Routledge.

Hoffmann, S. (1966) “Obstinate or Obsolete? The Fate of the Nation-State and the Case of Western Europe”, Daedalus. Vol. 95(3), pp. 862–915.

Hooghe, L. and Marks, G. (2015) “Delegation and pooling in international organisations”, Review of International Organizations. Vol. 10, pp. 305–328. DOI: 10.1007/s11558-014-9194-4.

Hurd, I. (2020) International Organisations Politics, Law, Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/9781316869604.

Judgment (1970) Internationale Handelsgesellschaft mbH v Einfuhr- und Vorratsstelle für Getreide und Futtermittel. Case 11–70. ECLI:EU:C:1970:114.

Judgment (2005) Yassin Abdullah Kadi v Council of the European Union and Commission of the European Communities. Case T-315/01. ECLI:EU:T:2005:332.

Judgment (2008) Yassin Abdullah Kadi and Al Barakaat International Foundation v Council of the European Union and Commission of the European Communities, joined cases C-402/05 P and C-415/05 P. ECLI:EU:C:2008:461.

Judgment (2013) European Commission and Others v Yassin Abdullah Kadi, joined cases C-584/10 P, C-593/10 P and C-595/10 P. ECLI:EU:C:2013:518.

Judgment (2018) Associação Sindical dos Juízes Portugueses v Tribunal de Contas. Case C-64/16. ECLI:EU:C:2018:117.

Judgment (2023a) Joshua David Silver and Others v Council of the European Union. Case C-499/21 P. ECLI:EU:C:2023:479.

Judgment (2023b) Harry Shindler and Others v Council of the European Union. Case C-501/21 P. ECLI:EU:C:2023:480.

Judgment (2023c) David Price v Council of the European Union. Case C-502/21 P. ECLI:EU:C:2023:482.

Judgment (2025) Jakub Cupriak-Trojan and Mateusz Trojan v Wojewoda Mazowiecki. Case C-713/23. ECLI: ECLI:EU:C:2025:917.

Kahler, M. (2002) The State of the State in World Politics in Katznelson, I. and Milner, H. (eds.) Political Science as Discipline. Reconsidering Power, Choice, and the State at Century’s End. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, pp. 56–83.

Kahn, S. (2014) “The nation-state as a territorial myth of European construction”, L’Espace géographique. Vol. 43(3), pp. 220–230. Available at: https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/2965 (Access 30.04.2026).

Kassim, H. and Menon, A. (eds.) (1996) The European Union and National Industrial Policy. London and New York: Routledge.

Keating, M. (2017) The Territorial State in King, D. and Le Galès, P. (eds.) Reconfiguring European States in Crisis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 121–136.

Kennedy, P. (2006) “Marxism and the Relative Autonomy of the Capitalist State”, Critique: Journal of Socialist Theory. Vol. 34(2), pp. 179–196. DOI: 10.1080/03017600600743308.

Knud, E.J. (2018) International Relations Theory. A New Introduction. London: Palgrave.

Koslowski, R. (2001) Understanding the European Union as a Federal Polity in Christiansen, T., Jorgensen, K.E. and Wiener, A. (eds.) The social construction of Europe. London: SAGE, pp. 32–49.

Krzyżanowska-Skowronek, I. (2024) “Teoretyczne, prawne i polityczne konteksty funkcjonowania państw de facto w stosunkach międzynarodowych”, Politeja. Vol. 90(3), pp. 349–374. DOI: 10.12797/Politeja.21.2024.90.18.

Kukathas, Ch. (2014) “A definition of the state”, University of Queensland Law Journal. Vol. 33(2), pp. 357–366. Available at: https://www.austlii.edu.au/ cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/journals/UQLJ/2014/21.html (Access 30.04.2026).

Lansford, T. (2000) “Post-Westphalian Europe? Sovereignty and the Modern Nation-State”, International Studies. Vol. 37(1), pp. 1–15. DOI: 10.1177/0020881700037001001.

Lenaerts, K. (2014) “The Kadi Saga and the Rule of Law within the EU”, SMU Law Review. Vol. 67(4), pp. 707–715. Available at: https:// scholar.smu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=smulr (Access 30.04.2026).

Lenaerts, K. (2023) “On Checks and Balances: the Rule of Law within the EU”, Columbia Journal of European Law. Vol. 29(2), pp. 25–63. Available at: https://cjel.law.columbia.edu/files/2023/04/CJEL-KU-Rule-of-Law-Special-Issue.pdf (Access 30.04.2026).

Levi, M. (2002) The State of the study of the State in Katznelson, I. and Milner, H. (eds.) Political Science as Discipline. Reconsidering Power, Choice, and the State at Century’s End. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, pp. 33–55.

Lindseth, P. (2016) Supranational Organisations in Cogan, J.K., Hurd, I. and Johnstone, I. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of International Organisations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 152–170.

Lindsey, J.R. (2013) The concealment of the state: explaining and challenging the postmodern studies. New York: Bloomsbury Academic.

Lipson, Ch. (1982) “The transformation of trade: the sources and effects of regime change”, International Organisation. Vol. 36(2), pp. 417–455. DOI: 10.1017/S0020818300019007.

Lister, M. and Marsh, D. (2022) Conclusion in Hay, C., Lister, M. and Marsh, D. (eds.) The State. Theories and Issues. London: Bloomsbury, pp. 300–324.

Muszyński, M. (2012) Państwo w prawie międzynarodowym. Istota, rodzaje i atrybuty. Bielsko-Biała: STO.

Pliakos, A. and Anagnostaras, G. (2011) “Who is the Ultimate Arbiter? The Battle over Judicial Supremacy in EU law”, European Law Review. Vol. 36(1), pp. 109–123.

Reinicke, W.H. (1997) “Global Public Policy”, Foreign Affairs. Vol. 76(6), pp. 127–138. DOI: 10.2307/20048281.

Risse, T. (2002) Constructivism and International Institutions. Toward Conversations Across Paradigms in Katznelson, I. and Milner, H. (eds.) Political Science as Discipline. Reconsidering Power, Choice, and the State at Century’s End. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, pp. 597–623.

Sadurski, W., Czarnota, A. and Krygier, M. (eds.) (2006) Spreading Democracy and the Rule of Law? The Impact of EU Enlargement for the Rule of Law, Democracy and Constitutionalism in Post-Communist Legal Orders. Dordrecht: Springer.

Schmidt, V.A. (1996) From State to Market? The Transformation of French Business and Government. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Schmidt, V.A. (1999) “The EU and its member-states: Institutional contrasts and their consequences”, MPIfG Working Paper. No. 7. Available at: http://www.mpifg.de/pu/workpap/wp99-7/wp99-7.htm (Access 30.04.2026).

Sharman, J.C. (2009) “The Bark Is the Bite: International Organisations and Blacklisting”, Review of International Political Economy. Vol. 16(4), pp. 573–596. DOI: 10.1080/09692290802403502.

Simonis, J.B.D. (1995) “European integration and the erosion of the nation-state”, International Journal of Social Economics. Vol. 22(7), pp. 50–58. DOI: 10.1108/03068299510764253.

Smith, S. (2001) Social Constructivism and European Studies in Christiansen, T., Jorgensen, K.E. and Wiener, A. (eds.) The social construction of Europe. London: SAGE, pp. 189–198.

Sørensen, G., Møller, J. and Jackson, R. (2022) Introduction to International Relations. Theories and Approaches. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/hepl/9780198862208.001.0001.

Squatrito, T., Lundgren, M. and Sommerer, T. (2019) “Shaming by international organisations: Mapping condemnatory speech acts across 27 international organisations, 1980–2015”, Cooperation and Conflict. Vol. 54(3), pp. 356–377. DOI: 10.1177/001083671983.

Symonides, J. (2014) Zmieniająca się rola i miejsce państwa w stosunkach międzynarodowych in Kącka, K. (ed.) Stosunki międzynarodowe wokół zagadnień teoretycznych. Toruń: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, pp. 369–398.

Varju, M. (2020) Member State Interests and European Union Law Revisiting. The Foundations of Member State Obligations. London and New York: Routledge.

Walker, N. (ed.) (2003) Sovereignty in Transition. Oxford Portland Or.: Hart.

Williams, P.R. (2012) “What Makes a State? Territory”, Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting, pp. 449–450. DOI: 10.5305/procannmeetasil.106.0449.

Download pdf[plus]

Language: English

Pages: 235-256

How to Cite:

Harvard

Kabat-Rudnicka, D. (2026) "From Nation-State to Member State: European Integration and the Transformation of Statehood". Studia Europejskie – Studies in European Affairs, 2/2026, pp. 235-256. DOI: 10.33067/SE.2.2026.12

APA
Chicago