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Informal Governance in the European Union
This book addresses an issue of paramount importance concerning the politics of the European Union: aspects of governance and policy making in the EU that are labelled ‘informal’. Much of the literature on the EU focuses on the formal facets of EU politics, but uniquely, the subject matter within this book deals with informal aspects such as: the role of personal relationships, the presence of non-hierarchical policy-networks and non-institutional channels of interest representation, and the relevance of the unwritten rules and routines which govern these aspects of EU politics.
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Critical Acclaim
Contributors
Contents
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How are the deals and decisions of the EU made – in the meeting rooms and at the conference tables, or by informal networks in the back corridors of power?
This book addresses an issue of paramount importance concerning the politics of the European Union: aspects of governance and policy making in the EU that are labelled ‘informal’. Much of the literature on the EU focuses on the formal facets of EU politics, but uniquely, the subject matter within this book deals with informal aspects such as: the role of personal relationships, the presence of non-hierarchical policy-networks and non-institutional channels of interest representation, and the relevance of the unwritten rules and routines which govern these aspects of EU politics.
The contributors ascertain that the study of sectoral policy making in the EU is incomplete without attention to this informal governance, which is normatively and conceptually more complex than is generally assumed. They provide a number of different approaches to the subject, illuminating the nature of informal governance in the EU and demonstrating the way in which its analysis can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of politics and policy making in the EU.
This highly original book will be a fascinating read for a wide-ranging audience – including academics, students, researchers and practitioners – with an interest in the governance of the EU.
This book addresses an issue of paramount importance concerning the politics of the European Union: aspects of governance and policy making in the EU that are labelled ‘informal’. Much of the literature on the EU focuses on the formal facets of EU politics, but uniquely, the subject matter within this book deals with informal aspects such as: the role of personal relationships, the presence of non-hierarchical policy-networks and non-institutional channels of interest representation, and the relevance of the unwritten rules and routines which govern these aspects of EU politics.
The contributors ascertain that the study of sectoral policy making in the EU is incomplete without attention to this informal governance, which is normatively and conceptually more complex than is generally assumed. They provide a number of different approaches to the subject, illuminating the nature of informal governance in the EU and demonstrating the way in which its analysis can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of politics and policy making in the EU.
This highly original book will be a fascinating read for a wide-ranging audience – including academics, students, researchers and practitioners – with an interest in the governance of the EU.
Critical Acclaim
‘Informal Governance in the European Union is a unique addition to both the European Union and public administration literature. . . A study of this type is long overdue.’
– Richard Grant, Public Administration Today
‘. . . [this volume] marks a welcome first step into the murky world of EU informal governance and it unquestionably lays the foundation for future research to come.’
– Brendan Flynn, European Integration
– Richard Grant, Public Administration Today
‘. . . [this volume] marks a welcome first step into the murky world of EU informal governance and it unquestionably lays the foundation for future research to come.’
– Brendan Flynn, European Integration
Contributors
Contributors: R.S. Chari, T. Christiansen, B. Eberlein, J. Fairbrass, A. Føllesdal, U. Hedetoft, A. Jordan, J. Mak, H. McMahon, S. Piattoni, M. Rhinard, C. Roederer-Rynning, S. Saurugger, A. Warleigh, C.M. Warner, D. Wincott, A.E. Woodward
Contents
Contents: Preface 1. Informal Governance in the European Union: An Introduction 2. Informal Governance: Improving EU Democracy? 3. Cultures of States and Informal Governance in the EU: An Exploratory Study of Elites, Power and Identity 4. Common Market Institutions, Fraud and Informal Networks 5. Building Velvet Triangles: Gender and Informal Governance 6. The Informal Governance of EU Environmental Policy: The Case of Biodiversity Protection 7. Selling off the State and Supranational Regulation: Informal Governance in the EU 8. Informal Governance and Biotechnology 9. Formal and Informal Governance in Single Market Regulation 10. Informal Governance in the Common Agriculture Policy 11. Informality as an Asset? The Case of EMU 12. Governing by Informal Networks? Nuclear Interest Groups and the Eastern Enlargement of the EU 13. Backing into the Future? Informality and the Proliferation of Governance Modes (and Policy Participants) in the EU Bibliography Index
