Research Paper on historical context

Following a traditional historiographic approach, this research paper will look at the history of differentiation as it has so far been applied to European integration, with the aim to draw causal dynamics and lessons from it. Within this broad area, the paper will focus particularly on the notion of “crisis”, defined broadly to include its social, political, and institutional aspects. Building on the simple observation that it is in times of difficulties that the idea of differentiation is often invoked in Europe, the paper will start by asking whether differentiation has provided viable and durable solutions to the continent’s problems and institutional impasse. This causal connection will, however, also be turned upside down in the paper by exploring whether differentiation can itself be seen also as a cause of crisis under certain circumstances. If so, how can the two aspects of the differentiation/crisis relationship be reconciled? To answer these questions, the paper will look at a number of cases