Charlotte Halpern

Governing Despite its Instruments? Instrumentation in EU Environmental Policy

Demonstrating how the political sociology approach to policy instruments generates new insights even in densely studied areas, this article investigates the evolution of policy instruments and the link between policy instruments and policy change in EU environmental policy over the past three decades. Examination of the politics of choice and combination of policy instruments reveals, first, that EU environmental policy is primarily structured by its instruments. Second, the article argues that, contrary to those in the literature who have claimed a pioneering role for the Union in this field, EU environmental policy is populated not by new or innovative policy instruments, but by instruments mainly derived from the member states or other international organisations. Third, it argues that the EUs tendency to import measures from elsewhere explains the apparent contradiction between the EUs policy activism, on the one hand, and the modest domestic impact of EU legislation, on the other.

Pas d'action publique autonome sans instruments propres: Analyse comparée et longitudinale des politiques environnementales et urbaines de l'Union européenne

This article explores the link between policy instrumentation and policy change at the EU level. It is based on a comparative analysis of policy instruments and their development in European urban and environmental policies. The analysis is based on an original dataset, retracing the evolution of European policy instruments in both areas over the past three decades, and how asks and by whom they were chosen and combined. Challenging the existing literature on new policy instruments and new forms of EU governance, our longitudinal analysis indicates that the traditional focus on new or innovative policy instruments is of limited explanatory power. Our approach shows how EU policies and policy-making are informed by the politics of choice and the combination of policy instruments.

Urban Mobility: What Role for the European Union? Explaining Dynamics of European Union Policy Design Since 1995

Abstract This research briefing provides a timely assessment of European Union (EU) intervention in the urban mobility policy field, by examining the relationship between forms of policy design and the EU institutionalization process. More precisely, it questions whether or not this continued intervention has benefited EU institutions. In order to do so, it analyses evolving relationships between three dimensions of EU policy design—namely policy objectives, policy structures and policy instruments—in a long-term perspective. Drawing on an original dataset, the article shows that in the absence of a stabilized understanding of the issue at stake, the lack of dedicated financial and organizational resources, and the import of policy instruments from other policy domains, the institutionalization of urban mobility at EU level is incomplete. These findings contribute to current debates on the Europeanization of cities and urban policies.