During the last few years, the European Union (EU) and the European integration process have been in a deep crisis, of which the rise of 'anti-European' political parties and movements in numerous member states is only one manifestation. The duration and multi-dimensional character of this crisis distinguish it arguably from previous crises. There is simultaneously a real prospect that a (major) member state - the UK - will withdraw from the EU and that political integration in a (major) issue-area - that of monetary policy - will be reversed, with potentially major implications for the very future of the EU itself.

The existing theoretical literature on European integration provides a diverse range of explanations of integration. But it yields few cues as to why disintegration has become conceivable. Although the Euro zone crisis is meanwhile at least four years old, relatively few social scientists have so far made the effort to analyze this phenomenon - to conceptualize it, to identify the forces that are driving disintegration as well as countervailing ones, and to assess what forms disintegration might take.

The contributors to this panel belong to the small band of scholars who have begun to tackle this topic. Collectively, their papers will aim in particular to:

1. Define the concept or alternative concepts of European disintegration;

2. Provide, compare and contrast alternative explanations of disintegration; and

3. Elucidate alternative scenarios and dimensions of disintegration.