Simon Bulmer

The Governance of the European Union: A New Institutionalist Approach

The analysis of European integration has tended to use a toolkit drawn from international relations. But since the revival of integration in the mid-1980s, the governance of the European Community and European Union has increasingly come to resemble that of a multi-tiered state. Accordingly, this article analyzes the governance of the European Union from a comparative public policy perspective. Using new or historical institutionalism, three levels are considered. In the first part, attention is focused on the EUs institutions and the available instruments of governance. The second part examines the analysis of governance at the policy-specific or sub-system level, and puts forward an approach based on governance regimes. The final part considers the institutional roots of the persistent, regulatory character of governance in the European Union.

The Federal Republic of Germany

The second election to the EP was held in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 17 June 1984. The date has a political significance in the FRG as the ‘day of national unity’ although this played no role in the election. As in 1979 the election was only held in the FRG for 78 MEPs, while the remaining one SPD and two CDU MEPs were selected from the Berlin Chamber of Deputies. The main distinction from 1979 lay in the intervening change of power at the federal level. Helmut Schmidt’s centre-left SPD/FDP coalition had been replaced in September 1982 by a centre-right CDU/CSU/FDP coalition under Helmut Kohl. This set the scene for what proved to be a nationally-orientated campaign.

New institutionalism and the governance of the Single European Market

This article examines the new institutionalist research agenda in the context of the European Union (EU). Specifically, it examines the historical institutionalist approach, setting out different aspects of EU governance that it may be able to capture: systemic change; differentiated governance structures across policy subsystems; policy evolution; and the normative dimension. The article then examines these different aspects, drawing on evidence associated with the Single European Market programme, launched in 1985.

Organizing For Europe: Whitehall, The British State And European Union

The article examines the adaptation of Whitehall to participation in the European Union. Following an Historical Institutionalist analysis, the article argues that the most critical juncture relating to the machinery for the handling of European business was taken in 1960–1961 well before the third, successful application to join the European Communities. Actual accession brought about an adaptation of the machinery and of the processes developed in negotiation to the wider needs of membership rather than a reform of machinery. Thus the most important alteration in Britain’s overseas relations since the war was easily accommodated within Whitehall’s established approach to handling policy. Developments from the 1970s onwards have largely been accretive and these developments are outlined. However, the article argues that more fundamental challenges deriving from EU membership lie ahead for the structure of the British state.

Germany as the EU's reluctant hegemon? Of economic strength and political constraints

This article explores the growing perception, prompted by the eurozone crisis, of Germany as a hegemonic power in the European Union. The article explores the realignments in the power balance within the European Union (EU) by making an original application of the insights from the literature on hegemony. It reviews the evidence for Germany playing a hegemonic role, but then emphasizes three sets of constraints. First, German pre-eminence is largely confined to the economic sphere. Even in this area Germany has not acted fully in line with the role ascribed by hegemonic stability theory. Second, its pre-eminence in the EU encounters problems of international legitimacy. Third, growing constraints arising from German domestic politics further hamper playing the role of hegemon. In consequence, Germany is intrinsically a reluctant hegemon: one whose economic leadership is recognized but politically contested. The conclusion considers the significance of these findings on the EUs most important member state.

Germany and the Eurozone Crisis: Between Hegemony and Domestic Politics

This paper explores Germany’s centrality to the outcome of the eurozone crisis. It argues that the eurozone crisis has led Germany’s ordo-liberal principles to trump its other longstanding commitment – i.e. to European integration. These two principles are explored in order then to shed light on how they have played out during the crisis. German centrality has created high expectations for it to provide leadership. Exploring hegemony conceptually and in practice, it is argued that international legitimacy and increasing domestic constraints have limited a leadership role. Indeed, it is argued that it is the domestic political situation that explains why ordo-liberalism has trumped pro-Europeanism. Ordo-liberal emphasis on stability culture has provided a valuable strategic resource for securing German objectives within the eurozone while satisfying the requirements of domestic politics.

Politics in Time meets the politics of time: historical institutionalism and the EU timescape

This article considers what light historical institutionalism (HI) may be able to shed on the European Unions (EUs) timescape. Drawing on Paul Piersons work Politics in Time it reviews what HI has to say about the dual dynamics of path dependent incremental development and radical change (termed punctuated equilibrium or critical junctures) as well as relating to timing, sequencing and long-term processes. It then suggests three areas of EU studies for exploring these contrasting dynamics, namely the integration process as a whole, EU policy dynamics and Europeanization. Applications of HI in EU studies have tended to be empirical and have often neglected to engage with the temporal theorizing embraced by Pierson. The special issues appeal for a new research agenda on the EU timescape offers the opportunity, it is argued, to rectify the insufficiency of theoretical reflection.

The European Dimension

European integration has been of central importance to the Federal Republic’s existence. The post-war division of Europe excluded the possibility of German reunification and presented the new state with the need for acceptance into the new international order. Initially, policy was heavily dependent on the attitudes of the Western allied powers, which held responsibility for the foreign affairs of the FRG. The inducement that they in effect offered to the FRG was the granting of sovereignty in return for commitments to good behaviour in multilateral frameworks such as the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). European integration was thus a major component in the FRG’s development from a position of dependence to one of interdependence. Independence, by contrast, was never an option after 1945, due to the strategic importance of the FRG and the unacceptability to the French of unchecked West German power.

Germany in the European Union: gentle giant or emergent leader?

The 1996 intergovernmental conference on the European Union will represent an important test of German influence in the European Union. The two preceding reforms-the Single European Act and the Maastricht treaty-were undertaken under different circumstances. The Single European Act preceded German unification, whereas the Maastricht treaty negotiations were partly a response to German unification and the end of the Cold War. The IGC negotiations will see the unified Germany operating in a more typical set of circumstances. This article examines the Federal Republics role in European integration on the eve of the IGC. Hhat are the limits and possibilities of German diplomacy in the EU? Is Germany reluctant to use the various sources of influence at its disposal? Alternatively, are there signs of Germany willingly acting as the drivingforce of European integration?*

Europeanization: A Critical Realist Perspective

Establishing causality in Europeanization research has been at the centre of methodological issues surrounding Europeanization literature (Exadaktylos and Radaelli, Chapter 2 in this volume). However, methodology is organically intertwined with the ontological and epistemological assumptions of the researcher (Hay, 2007: 117–118). Therefore, this chapter takes a deeper approach to the issue of establishing causality by acknowledging the meta-theoretical underpinnings of methodology by outlining a critical realist approach.