Introduction: European integration and national political systems

European integration as a (potential) force of change in domestic polities and politics is attracting growing scholarly attention. European integratio n comprises two interrelated processes: the delegation of policy competence s and the establishment of a new set of political institutions. Most existi ng studies of how these processes affect domestic institutional and politic al orders approach the subject from an institutionalist perspective. While such an approach helps to clarify the links between pressures for change an d patterns Of national adaptation, European integration as a source of chan ge cannot be considered in isolation from other (potential) sources of dome stic institutional and political change.