The heart of political steering: the EU's areana of power as template for a governance typology

The literature on the so-called new modes of governance in the European Union focuses on steering instruments beyond hierarchy and coercion. While it has repeatedly been put into question how ‘new’ these instruments are, no systematic attention has been paid to the mutual dependency between policy types marked by the specific conflict lines and choice of governance tools. On the contrary, some attempts to classify modes of governance explicitly disregard policy typologies. The paper argues conversely that in order to arrive at a comprehensive mapping of modes of governance – ‘old’ and ‘new’ – the most promising doorway is indeed to start from the actor constellations characteristic for the different policy types. A review of the European Union’s policies and modes of governance illustrates how modes of governance are pre-defined by the structures between policy-makers and –takers innate to the policy types that dominate supranational policy-making

Structuring the European Administrative Space - Channels of EU Penetration and Mechanisms ofNational Change

The author provides an analytical model to capture mechanisms of supranational impact on national public administrations. The aim is to understand how we can perceive a European administrative space given the persistent diversity between member states. In face of the overly complex subject matter, it is argued that a typology that presents ideal types of interaction modes between supranational and national levels of administration provides in fact a suitable pragmatic approach to understand the potential impact of European integration on national civil services. Scrutinizing which mechanisms of possible influence-taking the European Union (EU) invokes shows that administrative integration does actually not suggest overall convergence. Instead the shared administrative space works precisely because it preserves state-sensitive diversity. Only in the context of enlargement did the EU need to present a single model to the candidate states and thus the notion of an ever more converging single administrative space was invented. Despite the external promotion of a single model, the driving dynamic of the emerging European administrative space remains increased cooperation and common administration that respects and sustains differences between independent national public administrations. The theoretical framework and empirical application therefore provide a first step for further research to tackle how supranational integration changes national public administration.public administration; identity; ideas; integration theory; public administration; closer cooperation; Europeanization; Europeanization

Pattern and Extent of EU Involvement in Public Administrations: How to Describe and Explain in the European Administrative Space

This paper claims that public administrations are central players in the policy process. Hence, the control over and organization of civil services represent core state powers. The puzzles that emerge are therefore: which administrative system underpins supranational policy-making; and which consequences does participation in the European Administrative Space entail for the autonomy of national bureaucracies? I confront the theoretical challenge, namely the analytical description for the EAS, proposing a policy-centered approach that captures the EAS along the four dimensions administrative tasks, authority, instruments, and actor constellations. The empirical challenge is how to measure a supranational impact on national civil services. Drawing on a complementary view of political and administrative action in public administration research, a set of variables is applied to the EAS and the German national bureaucracy. The results show that not only the EAS but also the participation of the German administration herein increase the distance between the political and administrative realm but, at the same, also reduce drastically the ability of administrations to mitigate between the policy process, politics, and citizens

channels of EU penetration and mechanisms of national change

The author provides an analytical model to capture mechanisms of supranational impact on national public administrations. The aim is to understand how we can perceive a European administrative space given the persistent diversity between member states. In face of the overly complex subject matter, it is argued that a typology that presents ideal types of interaction modes between supranational and national levels of administration provides in fact a suitable pragmatic approach to understand the potential impact of European integration on national civil services. Scrutinizing which mechanisms of possible influence-taking the European Union (EU) invokes shows that administrative integration does actually not suggest overall convergence. Instead the shared administrative space works precisely because it preserves state-sensitive diversity. Only in the context of enlargement did the EU need to present a single model to the candidate states and thus the notion of an ever more converging single administrative space was invented. Despite the external promotion of a single model, the driving dynamic of the emerging European administrative space remains increased cooperation and common administration that respects and sustains differences between independent national public administrations. The theoretical framework and empirical application therefore provide a first step for further research to tackle how supranational integration changes national public administration

Structuring the European administrative space: channels of EU penetration and mechanisms of national change

"The author provides an analytical model to capture mechanisms of supranational impact on national public administrations. The aim is to understand how we can perceive a European administrative space given the persistent diversity between member states. In face of the overly complex subject matter, it is argued that a typology that presents ideal types of interaction modes between supranational and national levels of administration provides in fact a suitable pragmatic approach to understand the potential impact of European integration on national civil services. Scrutinizing which mechanisms of possible influence-taking the European Union (EU) invokes shows that administrative integration does actually not suggest overall convergence. Instead the shared administrative space works precisely because it preserves state-sensitive diversity. Only in the context of enlargement did the EU need to present a single model to the candidate states and thus the notion of an ever more converging single administrative space was invented. Despite the external promotion of a single model, the driving dynamic of the emerging European administrative space remains increased cooperation and common administration that respects and sustains differences between independent national public administrations. The theoretical framework and empirical application therefore provide a first step for further research to tackle how supranational integration changes national public administration." (author's abstract

Mending the hole in multilevel implementation: Administrative cooperation related to worker mobility

European economic integration creates unintended consequences for national public administrations. This article offers a conceptual and empirical analysis of how these challenges are met. First, three challenges are identified: a reduced capacity to offer services to citizens who move freely, increasing administrative burdens, and negative externalities for all parts from a single states’ administrative failure. Second, a conceptual framework is developed that links each challenge to a most likely response in form of modes of administrative cooperation. Third, the framework is illustrated by an empirical analysis of the coordination of social security systems, labor inspectorates, and posted workers. The case studies show that horizontal administrative cooperation is developed stepwise over time and in line with the theoretical framework. In sum, we can sustain that horizontal administrative cooperation is a relevant additional integration dynamic that buffers unintended effects of market integration on formally independent but increasingly interdependent member state executive bodies

Neue Impulse für die Politikwissenschaft in Österreich: erfolgreiche Graduiertenkonferenz bietet Anstoß für weitere Initiativen

Was ist die Zukunft der Politikwissenschaft in Österreich? Welche Position haben Graduierte und DoktorandInnen in den bestehenden Strukturen? Wo bestehen inhaltliche und methodische Mankos? Und wie kann nachwuchswissenschaftliches Potential besser eingebunden sowie gefördert werden? Diese Fragen standen im Mittelpunkt von powi04, der ersten österreichischen Graduiertenkonferenz für die Politikwissenschaft, die vom 13. bis 15. Mai 2004 in Wien stattfand. Ziel der Konferenz war es einerseits, die wissenschaftliche Vernetzung und den akademischen Austausch zu fördern und andererseits, allgemeine Probleme für DissertantInnen und NachwuchswissenschafterInnen anzusprechen, um mögliche Verbesserungen anzustoßen. Mit über 100 TeilnehmerInnen waren sowohl die öffentlichen Podiumsveranstaltungen als auch die intensive wissenschaftliche Arbeit zu verschiedenen thematischen Schwerpunkten ein voller Erfolg. Neben einigen Eindrücken zum Ablauf der Konferenz, soll im Folgenden darauf eingegangen werden, welche Punkte sich in den Debatten um eine stärkere Einbindung junger WissenschafterInnen im Stadium der Dissertation herauskristallisiert haben - in der Hoffnung, dass die powi04 tatsächlich ein erster Schritt für weitere Initiativen zur Erweiterung der österreichischen Wissenschaftslandschaft war

Assessing the Assessment. A Review on the Application Criteria; Minority Protection by the European Commission. EIPA Working Paper 2003/W/04

[From the Introduction]. In April 2003 ten applicant states signed accession treaties to the European Union. This marked the endpoint of an intensive preparatory phase in which the candidate countries' adherence to criteria for membership of the European Union was annually monitored in the so-called Regular Reports....The question thus arises of how the Commission arrives at its evaluations. How does it apply the criteria to assess an applicant country's success in meeting them? This study aims to shed light on the above question by focusing on the criterion "respect for and protection of minorities"...

EU referendums as a cure-all? Lessons from Switzerland

It is often argued that national referendums on European Union (EU) matters can be a cure for the democratic deficit of the EU and its policies. But what can we learn from a country like Switzerland about how and when direct democracy works? Our main conclusion is that referendums in the EU usually lack the necessary institutional and administrative links between direct and representative decision-making to have legitimacy-enhancing effects