Showing papers in "Journal of European Public Policy in 2006"

‘Normative’ power Europe: a realist critique

Abstract: This article offers a neorealist analysis and critique of liberal-idealist notions of the EU as a ‘normative’ or ‘civilian’ power. It argues that structural realist theory can shed considerable light on the emergence, development and nature of EU foreign and security policy co-operation. In contrast to liberal-idealism's reductionist and explicitly normative approach to the EU as an international actor, structural realism emphasizes the systemic determinants of EU foreign and security policy. It stresses the significance of bipolarity for the emergence of the EEC/EPC, and argues that the development of the ESDP is a function of systemic changes in the structural distribution of power. This has created a unipolar world and a multipolar Europe. In this context, the EU is used by its member states as a collective instrument for shaping its external milieu by a combination of hard and soft power.

Normative power Europe reconsidered: beyond the crossroads1

Abstract: The idea of being civilian, military, and civilizing at the same time is undoubtedly very seductive to the armies of academics now writing on EU military force. It is tempting to think that the EU can have-its-cake-and-eat-it-too in militarizing its normative power. In contrast, in my reconsideration of normative power Europe I suggest that militarization of the EU need not necessarily lead to the diminution of the EU's normative power, if the process is characterized by critical reflection rather than the pursuit of ‘great power’. However, I will further argue that militarizing processes beyond the crossroads provided by the European Security Strategy are already weakening the normative claims of the EU in a post-11 September world characterized by the drive towards ‘martial potency’ and the growth of a Brussels-based ‘military-industrial simplex’.

The EU as a ‘normative’ power: how can this be?

Abstract: Existing conceptions of the EU as a ‘civilian’/‘normative’/‘civilizing’ power lack precision and are normatively biased. There may be ‘normative’ or ‘civilian’ dimensions to EU foreign policy, yet it is problematic to imply, as such conceptualizations do, that the EU is a ‘force for good’ without identifying criteria and assessment standards that make it possible to qualify, substantiate or reject such a claim. How can we know that the EU's pursuit of norms is legitimate? One possible ‘critical standard’ might be to consider that a putative ‘normative’ or ‘civilian’ power would act in order to transform the parameters of power politics through a focus on strengthening the international legal system. From such a perspective there is, however, a tension in the EU's approach to international affairs.

Comparative studies of policy agendas

Abstract: Studying agenda-setting and policy dynamics is a well-established research tradition dating back to the work of Bachrach and Baratz and Schattschneider. The research tradition provides considerable insights into how changes in agendas and political attention affect public policy. However, the research tradition has been strongly dominated by studies of the US and has suffered from a lack of comparative studies. This paper discusses the different ways in which such comparative studies can be conducted as well as the potential insights which may be gained from them.

The European Union as a conflicted trade power

Abstract: The EU is a formidable power in trade. Structurally, the sheer size of its market and its more than forty-year experience of negotiating international trade agreements have made it the most powerful trading bloc in the world. Much more problematically, the EU is also becoming a power through trade. Increasingly, it uses market access as a bargaining chip to obtain changes in the domestic arena of its trading partners, from labour standards to development policies, and in the international arena, from global governance to foreign policy. Is the EU up to its ambitions? This article examines the underpinnings of the EU's power through trade across issue-areas and across settings (bilateral, inter-regional, global). It then analyses the major dilemmas associated with the exercise of trade power and argues that strategies of accommodation will need to be refined in each of these realms if the EU is to successfully transform its structural power into effective, and therefore legitimate, influence.

'Our Size Fits All': Normative Power Europe and the Mediterranean

Abstract: The article focuses on the normative connotation of European foreign policy and makes three points. First, through the criteria of inclusiveness and reflexivity, it draws a distinction between ‘normative power Europe’ and Europe as a ‘civilising power’. Second, the article puts forward a sociological institutionalist interpretation of the EU as a ‘civilising power’. It suggests that much of the EU’s action can be characterised as an unreflexive attempt to promote its own model because institutions tend to export institutional isomorphism as a default option. Third, the article shows the utility of a sociological institutionalist analysis by examining the case of the EU’s promotion of regionalism in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.

What kind of power

Abstract: The argument that the EU is a humanitarian – normative, civilian, civilizing – power has gained considerable attention Echoing discussions about recent developments in the international system towards a post-Westphalian order, the EU's actual foreign policy is in many ways a test case for such developments However, much remains to be done in terms of finding a satisfactory theoretical basis from which to examine this argument The study of the putative humanitarian dimension to the EU's foreign policy may benefit from legal and normative theory and from sociological insights into modern politics On this basis we may find a better starting point for examining whether the EU's humanitarian dimension is comprehensible as well as justifiable

Work/family reconciliation, equal opportunities and social policies: the interpretation of policy trajectories at the EU level and the meaning of gender equality

Abstract: There have been major changes in the approach to policy-making in the fields of work/family reconciliation, equal opportunities and social policies at the EU level at the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s. These fields have been historically closely connected, with a commitment to promoting gender equality marking all of them. However, interpretations of these shifts have been contested for each policy area. This article compares recent policy trajectories in the three fields in terms of ‘framing’ and ‘fit’. It concludes that while no unequivocally linear policy development can be identified in any of the fields, when they are taken together, it is possible to argue that gender equality has been framed more narrowly and more instrumentally than before. The slipperiness of policy meanings and the way in which this may serve to reshape policy priorities is something that has significance for policy development that goes beyond the sphere of gender equality.

A new form of governance? Comparing the open method of coordination to multilateral surveillance by the IMF and the OECD

Abstract: The open method of co-ordination (OMC) has received much attention in the recent EU literature. The predominant view claims that the OMC is not only a new but also an effective policy-making instrument. This paper raises doubts about both claims by offering a comparison of soft law policy co-ordination in three international organizations. More specifically, this paper compares the European Employment Strategy to the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines of the EU, the OECD Economic Surveys, and the IMF Article IV Consultations. Based on expertinterviews,itseekstodemonstratethattheseproceduresareformsofmultilateral surveillance that do not differ in kind. Such a comparative analysis of the OMC refutes claims to its novelty. Having compared the four procedures, a more general model of multilateral surveillance consisting of six elements is generated that facilitates further comparisons. This paper concludes that governments select voluntarist procedures mainlytosecuretheir own competenciesrather thantorealizecommon goals.Effective problem-solving is therefore not necessarily the dominant objective of soft law.

Anchoring Europe's civilizing identity: habits, capabilities and ontological security1

Abstract: What effects might the deepening CFSP have on the EU's identity as a civilian and civilizing power? While greater military capabilities might seem to threaten that identity, raising the specter of ‘great power Europe’, such fears might not be warranted. Building on the assumption that actors need stable identities – in Anthony Giddens' term, ontological security – and achieve them by routinizing relations with significant others, I examine the routines through which EU member states secure their civilian and civilizing identity. I argue that the publicity and deliberation inherent in those routines can help to stabilize healthy security relations among EU member states and in Europe's external relations, thus strengthening the EU's role as a civilizing power.

The EU and the new trade politics

Abstract: Over the past twenty years trade politics within the European Union (EU) have changed in three ways. First, the concerns of traditional trade actors have shifted to more ‘behind-the-border’ issues, especially regulation and investment. Second, new actors – parliaments, non-trade agencies, and non-governmental organizations – have become more engaged. Third, the leadership of the EU (and the United States) has been challenged by influential developing countries. The EU has responded to the new trade politics by advocating a ‘deep’ trade agenda: seeking multilateral agreements on the making of domestic rules. This response reflects the EU's own experience of market integration. Where the new trade politics have affected EU policy it has been through changing views about the purposes and priority of trade policy at the highest political levels, rather than more directly via interest group lobbying. While the EU has been unsuccessful in promoting its agenda within the World Trade Organization, it is ...

Europeanization through its instrumentation

Abstract: Understanding Europeanization through its instrumentation raises the issue of the supposed neutrality of policy tools used as soft modes of action. The aim of this article is to assess how this ‘new governance’ tends to guide policy-making on a specific path. Indeed, European construction cannot be restricted to the direct impact of Community law or to the indirect effects of economic integration. A new form of non-constraining co-ordination has been developing since the mid-1990s. In order to explain how the cognitive mechanisms of Europeanization work, we open the ‘toolboxes’ that allow European institutions to have an effect on national representations and practices. The use of benchmarking for building the European Research Area, the elaboration of gender equality policy according to the principle of mainstreaming, and the open method of co-ordination (OMC) in the field of pension reforms, illustrate how such policy instruments lead national governments to meet the competitiveness requirements of the Lisbon strategy.

Privatizing public enterprises in the European Union 1960–2002: ideological, pragmatic, inevitable?

Abstract: Privatization, recognized as one of the most important economic policy reforms from the 1970s, has attracted significant attention from scholars, and the literature on the topic is now vast. Yet there is little agreement on the reasons why governments privatized. Three dominant paradigms explaining European Union (EU) privatization put forward distinct motivations. The ‘British paradigm’ assumed that market-friendly ideology played a significant role in a path towards a global programme inspired by the UK experience. The ‘multiple logics’ approach observed that the UK was an anomaly, not a leader, and that EU privatization was so diverse that there were few, if any, common logics. The ‘European paradigm’ emphasized the importance of Europe in the context of a changing world and placed EU privatization in the context of economic and political integration. This article tests all three paradigms using comparative data on EU privatization by country and sector. Pragmatic concerns connected to Europea...

Comparative analysis of policy networks in Western Europe

Abstract: In this paper we seek to understand the impact of the macro-political context on power configurations within policy subsystems. For this purpose we systematically compare policy networks in three major policy subsystems and seven Western European countries (and the EU) on the basis of a typology for the power configurations within policy subsystems. We link the European, domestic and policy-specific context to our typology of policy networks. To test the hypotheses we conduct empirical network and reputational analysis of 345 interviews with key policy‐makers. The results point not only to the importance of the EU context, but also to the complex interplay of domestic and policy-specific contexts for understanding domestic power configurations. Domestic power configurations vary not only from country to country, but also within the countries depending on the policy domain.

The domestic implications of European soft law: framing and transmitting change in employment policy

Abstract: The Treaty of Amsterdam launched the European Employment Strategy, a supranational non-binding instrument to boost employment rates and competitiveness. The open method of coordination, a new governance regulatory instrument, rules this common strategy. The article argues that the ‘framing effect’ of soft law is significant to policy-making across states, especially in the case of policy formulation. The analysis is grounded in the argument that to understand the effect of ‘foreign’ non-binding governance instruments researchers studying these types of governance instruments should unpack the ‘black box of policy-making’ and focus on process. Specifically, the article contributes to the literature on Europeanization by studying an instance of ‘soft Europeanization.’ To sustain and illustrate my argument, I present data from interviews conducted in the European Union, in Sweden, Spain, and Belgium at the national and subnational levels.

Crashing and creeping: agenda-setting dynamics in the European Union

Abstract: Agenda-setting in the EU takes place in two ways: ‘from above’ through high-level political institutions urging EU action, and ‘from below’ through policy experts formulating specific proposals in low-level groups and working parties. This article formulates a theoretical framework for understanding the differences between these two processes. Moreover, it shows how they may interact and become intertwined in the course of actual agenda-setting processes. The utility of the approach is demonstrated in two contrasting case studies: one of EU anti-smoking policy and one of EU anti-bioterrorism policy.

Uninvited Europeanization: neofunctionalism and the EU in health policy

Abstract: Neofunctionalism lives on in health policy: while there are many ways in which the theory of Haas has become obsolescent, it still provides a convincing explanation of the expansion of EU competencies, as shown above all by the ongoing, unintended, development of a European health policy. Member states have carefully isolated health services and policy from the EU since its inception, granting only narrow responsibilities and weak tools relevant to marginal areas of policy. Yet today the EU is emerging as one of the formative influences in health policy. Simply put, the activities of EU institutions in areas outside health, both legislative and judicial, have had unexpected consequences for health by changing the legal environment under which health systems contract employees, purchase goods, finance services, and organize themselves. The result is systematic encroachments on health policy by the EU, driven by the Court and justified by internal market rules and decisions.

Normative by nature? The role of coherence in justifying the EU's external human rights policy

Abstract: In order to assess the EU's ‘normative power’, the article compares the justification of the EU's external policy regarding the death penalty and minority protection, respectively. Starting from the assumption that policies can be justified by utility- , value- or rights-based arguments, it reasons that in complex argumentations all types are deployed, so that coherence between different justifications is an important legitimizing factor. In the death penalty case, EU policy developed in line with the requirements of argumentative coherence, while in the case of minority protection, the shift from utility- to value-based arguments exposed incoherence between the internal and external application of the policy. This incoherence triggered a discursive ‘realignment strategy’, linking the external policy back to established EU norms. However, this does not suspend the tension between the different internal and external approaches to minority protection, thereby diminishing the EU's normative power in this iss...

Lobbying in the European Union: From sui generis to a comparative perspective

Abstract: This article reviews the literature on lobbying in the European Union. After initial surveys of the landscape of non-governmental actor participation, theoretical investigations have focused on the modes of network governance and later on the phenomenon of Europeanization. Yet studies have increasingly moved away from considering EU lobbying as a sui generis phenomenon. Normalizing the study of interest group participation in the EU and understanding the opportunities and constraints that are characteristic for it has led more and more scholars to adopt a comparative perspective. The most interesting parallels exist between Washington and Brussels, but unfortunately there have been very few attempts to explore the connection between the American literature on lobbying and EU studies. This article makes a first step towards such a comparison and points to concepts common in comparative politics that could provide considerable insight into the study of EU lobbying.

Executive politics as usual: role behaviour and conflict dimensions in the College of European Commissioners

Abstract: While role behaviour and conflict dimensions in the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have been fairly well documented, studies on the internal functioning of the College of the European Commission have been almost lacking. Thus, highly inconsistent images exist; ranging from portraying Commissioners as mainly independent Europeanists on the one hand, to seeing them as primarily national ‘ambassadors’ on the other. Although the main purpose of this article is to theorize College behaviour, some exploratory data indicate that Commissioners first and foremost champion their sectoral portfolio interests, while at the same time, although variably, being attentive to their collective responsibility within the Commission, their country of origin as well as their political party. Theoretically, Commissioners' decision behaviour is accounted for by considering the organizational structure, demography, locus and culture within which they are embedded, as well as the type of policy ...

Explaining the constitutionalization of the European Union

Abstract: Parliamentarization and the institutionalization of human rights are two processes of constitutionalization in the EU that constitute a puzzle for explanations inspired by both rationalist and constructivist institutionalism. We propose to analyse these processes as strategic action in a community environment: community actors use the liberal democratic identity, values and norms that constitute the EU's ethos strategically to put social and moral pressure on those community members that oppose the constitutionalization of the EU. Theoretically, this process will be most effective under conditions of high salience, legitimacy, and publicity.

Nested and overlapping regimes in the transatlantic banana trade dispute

Abstract: The decade-long transatlantic banana dispute was not a traditional trade conflict stemming from antagonistic producers' interests. Instead, this article argues that the banana dispute is one of the most complex illustrations of the legal and political difficulties created by the nesting and overlapping of international institutions and commitments. The contested Europe-wide banana policy was an artifact of nesting - the fruit of efforts to reconcile the single market with Lomeobli- gations which then ran afoul of WTO rules. Using counter-factual analysis, this article explores how the nesting of international commitments contributed to creat- ing the dispute, provided forum shopping opportunities which themselves compli- cated the options of decision-makers, and hindered resolution of what would otherwise be a pretty straightforward trade dispute. We then draw out implications from this case for the EU, an institution increasingly nested within multilateral mechanisms, and for the issue of the nesting of international institutions in general.

How agenda-setting attributes shape politics: Basic dilemmas, problem attention and health politics developments in Denmark and the US

Abstract: We propose a new approach to the study of comparative public policy that examines how the agenda-setting attributes of an issue combine with problems to drive political attention. Whereas existing comparative policy studies tend to focus on how institutional or programmatic differences affect policy and politics, we begin by asking how the issue itself affects politics across nations. We illustrate by comparing health care attention and policy developments in Denmark and the US over fifty years. These two industrialized democracies have very different political and health care systems. Nevertheless, similar trends in political attention to health emerge. We argue that these high levels of attention reflect the issue's political attractiveness with regard to vote-seeking and the fact that neither system has managed to resolve the basic dilemma of how to control costs while meeting public expectations concerning access to services and health care quality.

Relational attributes of political entrepreneurs: a network perspective

Abstract: Political entrepreneurs are identified by personal characteristics similar to economic entrepreneurs, i.e. intellectual ability, good knowledge of their domain, team building skills, reputation, extensive networks, strategic vision and tenacity. Political entrepreneurs differ from economic agents by having a different incentive structure in attempting to control or exercise political power. A complete model of actor interaction would entail structural constraints and agency attributes coupled with an account of actor relational data. These we can best conceptualize as network data. Networks provide the context within which these actors thrive. Furthermore, as all entrepreneurial activity bears risks, networks are employed to mitigate them. Furthermore, accepting the premise that political entrepreneurs are network-dependent implies that their ability for political action is network-contingent. Focusing on their network attributes, I attempt to identify those significant for the entrepreneurial be...

The Democratic Control of Military Power Europe

Abstract: The development of a ESDP has raised concerns over the EU's identity as a ‘civilian power’. Whereas concerns over a gradual replacement of civilian policy instruments by military force have been most prevalent, this article focuses on a neglected dimension of the civilian power-concept, namely on the repercussions of the ESDP for the democratic control of security and defence policy. It argues that the Europeanization of defence politics leads to a democratic deficit because national parliaments' capacity to control executive decisions to use military force has been weakened by the ESDP and neither the European Parliament nor the former WEU assembly has been able to compensate for this loss of parliamentary control. This democratic deficit may not only damage the legitimacy of EU-led military missions but may also compromise the EU's ability to lead by virtuous example.

The common sense of European integration

Abstract: The rejection of the Constitutional Treaty and the various events following the negative referenda provide an excellent occasion for reconsidering the real meaning of European integration. Paradoxically, the integration process is often praised for its clumsy and ultimately unsuccessful attempts to mimic the nation state, while its truly important contribution to European civilization – the establishment of a supranational constitutional order – is belittled or even ignored. An example of this distorted vision is the debate on the so-called democratic deficit – a condition which could be easily corrected if a majority of Europeans supported a supranational federal state. Since it is obvious that no such majority exists, now or in the foreseeable future, the ‘democratic deficit’, however defined, is the price we pay for wishing to integrate our national economies while preserving the core of national sovereignty. The current crisis is methodological rather than systemic: it amounts to a rejection ...

The EU – a cosmopolitan polity?

Abstract: The parameters of power politics have changed in Europe and the EU exports the rule of law, democracy and human rights worldwide. The criteria for judging the polity's normative quality may be derived from cosmopolitanism, i.e. whether it subjects its actions to the constraints of a higher ranking law. The author establishes this criteria, its theoretical and institutional underpinnings, and provisionally assesses whether the EU in fact complies with it. We may question whether the EU's external foreign and security policy is actually consistent with cosmopolitan tenets but we need an approach that does not rule this out as a logical possibility. We thus need a theoretical approach that does not predetermine the answer to the question of what order is possible as do realism as well as idealism.

Direct democracy and European integration

Abstract: The no-votes in the French and Dutch referendums on the Constitutional Treaty have highlighted the importance of understanding the mechanisms of direct democracy. Despite the increasing use and significance of referendums in the process of European integration, comparative studies of referendums in Europe are still few and many questions concerning direct democracy thus remain unanswered. This article reviews recent advances in the literature on direct democracy and European integration and suggests future avenues for research. To understand the ways in which referendums may influence the European integration process, this article approaches the study of direct democracy from the perspective of voters (how do they decide?) and political elites (which strategies do they adopt?), as well as examining the impact on policy outcomes.

The more things change, the more things stay the same : a comparative analysis of budget punctuations

Abstract: In this paper I identify whether budgets in Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States are punctuated and investigate the variation in budget punctuations over time. Building on stochastic process methods, I find that budgets in all four cases exhibit mostly incremental changes punctuated by extreme shifts. In order to explain variation in budget punctuations over time, I rely on two models: partisan control of government and partisan distance of the assembly. The two models are tested using national budgetary data across all government functions for the four countries from the mid-1960s to 1989. I find that greater distance in strength and ideology among parties leads to increases in the degree of punctuations in the German and the British cases, whereas there is some evidence for the partisan control model in the American cases. In the Danish cases, partisan distance reduces the degree of budget punctuations.

Punctuated equilibrium in French budgeting processes

Abstract: We use data on French budgeting to test models of friction, incrementalism and punctuated equilibrium. Data include the overall state budget since 1820; ministerial budgets for seven ministries since 1868; and a more complete ministerial series covering ten ministries since 1947. Our results in every case are remarkably similar to the highly leptokurtic distributions that Jones and Baumgartner (2005) demonstrated in US budgeting processes. This suggests that general characteristics of administrative processes create friction, and that these general factors are more important than particular details of organizational design. The legendary centralization and administrative strength of the French state, especially when compared to the decentralized separated powers structure of the US system, where the theory was developed, is apparently not sufficient to overcome cognitive pressures causing friction. Further, our French data cover a wide range of institutional procedures and constitutional regimes. The similarity of our findings across all these settings suggests that administrative structures alone are less important than the cognitive reasons discussed in the original model.