This book discusses the origins of European integration, giving a valuable contribution to the debate on the future of Europe.The relaunch of European integration in the 1980s and 1990s will affect profoundly the continent's course in the twenty-first century. The European Commission, bureaucratic cabinets, national diplomats, transnational companies, pressure groups and representatives of the regions have set in motion a process that is changing statehood in Europe dramatically. Based on more than 30 interviews with EU commissioners, managers of European transnational companies and national diplomats, this volume is a valuable contribution to the debate on the future of Europe in the world system.The relaunch of European integration in the 1980s and 1990s will affect profoundly the continent's course in the twenty-first century. The European Commission, bureaucratic cabinets, national diplomats, transnational companies, pressure groups and representatives of the regions have set in motion a process that is changing statehood in Europe dramatically. Based on more than 30 interviews with EU commissioners, managers of European transnational companies and national diplomats, this volume is a valuable contribution to the debate on the future of Europe in the world system.The relaunch of European integration in the 1980s and 1990s will affect profoundly the continent's course in the twenty-first century. The European Commission, bureaucratic cabinets, national diplomats, transnational companies, pressure groups and representatives of the regions have set in motion a process that is changing statehood in Europe dramatically. Based on more than thirty interviews with EU commissioners, managers of European transnational companies and national diplomats, this volume is a valuable contribution to the debate on the future of Europe in the world system.Part I. Statebuilding and Political Entrepreneurship: 1. Western Europe's move toward political union Volker Bornschier; 2. TyilSą