Intergovernmentalism is a method of decision-making in For the political science journal, see: International Organization An international organization (also called intergovernmental organization) is an organization of international scope or character. ...international organizations, where power is possessed by the member_states and decisions are made by unanimity. Independent appointees of the A government is an organization that has the power to make and enforce laws for a certain territory. ...governments or elected representatives have solely advisory or implementational functions. Intergovernmentalism is used by most international organizations today.

An alternative method of decision_making in international organizations is Supranationalism is a method of decision_making in international organizations, where power is held by independent appointed officials or by representatives elected by the legislatures or people of the member states. ...supranationalism.

Intergovernmentalism is also a theory on European integration which rejects the idea of Neofunctionalism is a theory of regional integration, building on the work of David Mitrany. ...neofunctionalism. The theory, innitially proposed by Stanley Hoffmann (biography  (http://www.gov.harvard.edu/Faculty/Bios/Hoffmann.htm)) suggests that governments control the level and speed of European integration is the process of political and economic (and in some cases social and cultural) integration of European states into a tighter bloc. ...european integration. Any increase in power at supranational level, he argues, results in a direct decision by governments. He believed that integration, drive by national governments, was often based on the domestic political and economic issues of the day. The theory rejects the concept of the spill over effect that neofunctionalism proposes. He also rejects the idea that supranational organisations are on an equal level (in terms of political influence) as national governments.

See also

• A federation (from the Latin fœdus, covenant) is a state comprised of a number of self_governing regions (often themselves referred to as states) united by a central (federal) government. ...Federation