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Omkar Pawar asked: What is

functionalist approach in
international relations?
Arpita Anant replies: (../profile/aanant) A functionalist approach to international relations emphasises the
importance of specific issues or problems, mainly technical in nature, in engendering the need for
cooperation among nations. According to David Mitrany (1943), cooperation among technical experts in a
functional area will result in the creation of an international agency that will push nations to cooperate
rather than wage war. Cooperation in one functional area will have ‘ramifications’ in other functional areas.

A variation of functionalism, namely neo-functionalism, became an idea to reckon with due to the
experience of the post-World War II integration of Europe. As explained by Ernst B. Haas (1958), over and
above technical issues, it is political parties, interest groups, and the views of political elites that influence
cooperation. A spill-over from one functional area to another is also likely but conditional on the additional
factors.

Other prominent scholars who developed the theory along neo-functionalist lines are Philippe C. Schmitter,
Joseph S. Nye and Robert O. Keohane.

The contemporary significance of the theory lies in the fact that increasingly multilateral cooperation is
taking functional forms. However, the ramifications and/or spill-over to other functional areas are
circumspect.

Posted on April 03, 2017

Topics: Foreign Policy (/taxonomy/term/328)

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