Bypassing the nation-state? Regions and the EU policy process

This article examines the outcome of the EU policy process from various comparative perspectives in an effort to distinguish the “net effects” of EU membership and EU-level regimes from more general—perhaps global—processes of change. It argues that the major features of liberalization would have been diffused to most if not all member states even in the absence of the European Commission, other agents of supranationalism, and EU-level intergovernmental commitment to liberalize. This is not to suggest that Europeanization does not matter but that it matters in less obvious and perhaps in less critical ways than is frequently assumed. The argument is supported by comparative empirical analysis of the spatial and temporal diffusion of liberalization since the 1980s and of nationalization since the late 19th century.

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The EU Policy Process

Understanding the European Union ◽

10.1007/978-1-137-36234-6_6 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 120-144

Author(s):

John McCormick

Keyword(s):

Policy Process ◽

Eu Policy ◽

The Eu

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Policy Networks and Policy-making in the European Union

10.1093/oso/9780198786108.003.0004 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

R. A. W. Rhodes

Keyword(s):

Policy Process ◽

Policy Making ◽

Policy Networks ◽

The European Union ◽

Power Dependence ◽

Policy Area ◽

Eu Policy ◽

Functional Representation ◽

Level Of Analysis ◽

The Eu

Policy networks travel well and help us to understand EU policy-making. The chapter reviews the literature up to 1996 and identifies the main objections to using the concept to study the EU: explanation, level of analysis, institutions, boundaries, and policy. The chapter discusses the limits to policy networks and the conditions under which they work. The factors sustaining EU policy networks include: the national style of policy-making, degree of resource/power dependence, characteristics of the policy area, stage of the policy process, degree of aggregation, and functional representation. The Afterword assesses the record and concludes that policy networks became part of the conceptual vocabulary of studies of EU policy.

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2. Member States in European Integration

The Member States of the European Union ◽

10.1093/hepl/9780198737391.003.0002 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 27-46

Author(s):

Christopher Bickerton

Keyword(s):

Member State ◽

European Integration ◽

Policy Making ◽

Nation State ◽

State Governments ◽

Member States ◽

Eu Policy ◽

The Eu ◽

Inter State

This chapter explores the role of member states in European integration. It first looks at the idea of member statehood, exploring its ambiguities and arguing for a more sophisticated understanding of what it means to be a ‘member state’ of the EU. The chapter considers in detail the role played by member states in the EU, highlighting in particular the centrality of member state governments and their power to EU policy-making and its institutions. At the same time it notes the relative absence of member state publics. The chapter ends with a reflection on whether there is a return of the nation-state, with its associated trends of nationalism and inter-state rivalry.

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