Sebastiaan Princen
Biographic Data
| ID | 4377951 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sebastiaan Princen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sebastiaan |
| FAMILY NAME | Princen |
| SIGNATURE | PRINCEN S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Utrecht University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7450-1807 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 33 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 491 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 33 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 12 |
Behind closed doors
Fulfilling the Promise of ‘Leaving No One Behind’
The 2030 Agenda's Leaving No One Behind (LNOB) principle has the potential to offer a new approach to development, but whether it is achieved largely depends on how it is institutionalised within countries. This research provides the first empirical study into the relation between institutionalisation of LNOB and its goal achievement. Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis, this research investigates how and in what combinations five institutiona…
External pressure, bureaucratic politics and policy insiders
Adaptation, Experimentation or Conservation? The Use of Differentiated Implementation Under the Energy Efficiency Directive
In this article, we introduce an innovative theoretical framework to analyse the use of differentiated implementation in the implementation process of European Union (EU) Directives. We identify rationales for offering flexibility in EU Directives as well as motives for policy‐makers to make use of the discretion. We analyse patterns and drivers of differentiated implementation under the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) in four member states in …
Differentiated policy implementation in the European Union
This special issue analyses the patterns, causes and consequences of Differentiated Policy Implementation (DPI) in the European Union (EU). DPI is an umbrella term for the diversity in the presence and use of discretion during legal and practical policy implementation processes and outcomes in the EU. The emergent DPI research agenda emphasises differentiation in EU policy implementation beyond mere legal compliance, which is more widespread, and…
Assessing the role of the European Council and the European Commission during the migration and Covid-19 crises
Over the past decades, ‘emergency politics’ has become a quasi-permanent feature of the European Union (EU). According to some, this has reinforced the trend towards a greater role for the European Council (EUCO) in EU agenda-setting, to the detriment of the European Commission (Commission). In this article, this claim is critically assessed by analysing two major crises: the 2015-2016 migration crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. By systematically…
Patterns of coordination in the European Commission
Organising effective policy coordination has become a key principle of EU policymaking in recent decades. Within the European Commission, interservice consultations (ISCs) play an important role to coordinate between the different directorate-generals. In spite of this importance, ISCs have so far not been analysed in a systematic way. This paper addresses this gap by systematically analysing the numbers, types and content of comments made in ISC…
Differentiation through flexibility in implementation
This article analyses the extent to which European Union (EU) directives allow for variation in domestic implementation. Such flexibility in implementation may be used to deal with heterogeneity among member states. Based on an original dataset of 164 directives adopted between 2006 and 2015, we find that the use of flexibility is associated more with efforts to accommodate differences between national policies (substantive use of discretion) tha…
Different yet the same? Differentiated integration and flexibility in implementation in the European Union
Differentiated integration (DI) and flexibility in implementation (FI) are two forms of differentiation that can be used to cope with heterogeneity among EU member states. Given the different ways in which they do so, this article asks whether DI and FI are alternatives for each other or whether they serve different functions in EU legislation. Based on a dataset that maps the occurrence of opt-outs and flexibility provisions in EU directives, th…
Information processing in the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy
The policy studies literature is divided on how information processing takes place in policy processes. Punctuated equilibrium theory claims that policymakers tend to process information disproportionately, giving more weight to some incoming signals than to others. By contrast, thermostatic models of policymaking argue that policymakers respond in a more proportionate way. In this paper, we analyse information processing in the adoption of Total…
How strong is deliberation in EU intergovernmental decision making? Deliberation in the field of Justice and Home Affairs
The argument that intergovernmental decision making in the EU is not marked by bargaining alone and that occurrences of deliberation play an important role is gaining increasing recognition in the literature. In this article, we critically evaluate that claim by developing a notion of deliberation along Habermasian lines, in which deliberation is understood as a process that induces negotiating partners to change positions through argumentation. …
Rethinking the European Social Market Economy
This contribution offers an introduction to the Special Issue ‘Rethinking the European Social Market Economy’. It places the Special Issue against the background of the debate on free markets versus social protection in the European Union and the inclusion of the notion of ‘social market economy’ in the Treaty on European Union. It sketches the meaning and development of the social market economy concept, and introduces the key questions underlyi…
Four Models of Protecting Citizenship and Social Rights in Europe
This article offers a synthesis of and conclusion to the contributions included in the Special Issue ‘Rethinking the European Social Market Economy’. Based on different understandings of citizenship in the European Union and the roles of the EU and its member states in providing social protection arrangements, it develops a typology of four models of the EU's role in social protection. It then discusses the contributions to this Special Issue in …
Agenda-Setting and Framing in Europe
Studies of agenda-setting deal with the attention (or lack thereof) that issues receive in policy-making processes. It is intimately linked with framing, which serves to highlight certain (aspects of) issues to the detriment of others. Agenda-setting theory originated and was largely developed in the United States, but can fruitfully be applied in a European context as well. This chapter identifies and discusses the key insights from agenda-setti…
Lessons from the past? Cultural memory in Dutch integration policy
This article explores the contribution that cultural memory studies can make to the debate about the role of ideas and the dynamics of ideational change in policy making. Cultural memory studies engage with the cultural dimensions of remembering, and analyse how shared images of the past are mediated and transferred across distance and time. Such research shows how the past may continue to influence the present by informing the frameworks through…
From Summitry to EU Government
While some observers have claimed that the European Council has become the key institution in European Union politics, others have argued that the Council's role has remained relatively stable over time. In this article, we argue that an analysis of agenda formation dynamics in the European Council may help us understand better how the European Council works and how its role has evolved over time. Building on theories of agenda‐setting, we identi…
Paradigm formation and paradigm change in the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact
This article analyses whether the European Union’s (EU) Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) has been underpinned by a policy paradigm. In doing so, it seeks to contribute to the debate on the existence and importance of paradigms in policy-making. It uses a causal mapping technique to reconstruct the beliefs behind three key policy documents in the SGP’s development, assessing to what extent these beliefs conform to two dominant economic policy parad…
Which Policy for Europe? Power and Conflict inside the European Commission
Which Policy for Europe? Power and Conflict inside the European Commission." West European Politics, 39(2), pp. 410–411
Establishing cross-border co-operation between professional organizations
This article explores the conditions under which local and regional governments will establish and sustain cross-border co-operation in the fields of police, fire fighting and emergency health services. It argues that understanding this type of cross-border co-operation requires a focus on the way in which professionals define and apply their professional standards in cross-border contexts. Moreover, it requires a focus on individual organization…
Putting policy paradigms in their place
Additional informationNotes on contributorsBiographical notes: Sebastiaan Princen is Professor of Governance and Policymaking in the European Union at the Utrecht University School of Governance. Paul ’t Hart is Professor of Public Administration at the Utrecht University School of Governance and Associate Dean, Netherlands School of Public Administration
Punctuated equilibrium theory and the European Union
This contribution discusses punctuated equilibrium theory (PET) and its application to European Union (EU) policy processes. It argues that PET includes two approaches, one that relies on case studies of individual issues and one that analyses overall distributions of policy change. Whereas the former approach has gained a strong foothold in studies of EU policy-making, application of the latter to the EU is still in its infancy. Because of its f…
The Quest for Co‐ordination in European Regulatory Networks
The establishment of European Regulatory Networks (ERNs) has been presented as a way to promote the uniform implementation of EU law in a range of issue areas. This article argues that the level of co‐ordination achieved in ERNs crucially depends on the level of interdependence between Member State authorities in a given issue area. Drawing on a survey among national representatives in two ERNs and a set of in‐depth interviews, it shows that both…
The Deu Approach to Eu Decision-Making
This article discusses the strengths and limitations of the ‘Decision-Making in the EU (DEU) approach’ to EU decision-making, as exemplified by Robert Thomson's Citation(2011) Resolving Controversy in the European Union and the article by Thomson et al. in this issue. It spells out six assumptions underlying the DEU approach and critically reviews each in light of alternative theories of decision- and policy-making. Based on this assessment, it a…
Agenda-setting strategies in EU policy processes
This paper develops a typology of strategies used by political actors to place issues on the Europena Union (EU) agenda. In doing so, it builds on a theoretically derived twofold distinction between two challenges in putting issues on the agenda (gaining attention and building credibility) and two factors that actors can affect (venues and frames). The resulting four types of strategy are further specified on the basis of the existing case study …
Time for Eu Matters
To what extent does the European Union (EU) affect national governments? This article seeks to answer this question by assessing the Europeanization of Dutch central government. Using data from a large-scale survey among civil servants, we assess to what extent the EU affects the structure and culture of governmental organizations, as well as the activities of individual civil servants. On the basis of this analysis, we conclude that the impact o…
Agenda-setting in the European Union
Although agenda-setting processes are important for understanding policy-making in the European Union, the literature on EU governance has devoted little explicit attention to them. Drawing on studies in international relations, EU governance and agenda-setting in domestic politics, this article identifies some key elements of agenda-setting processes in the EU and formulates an agenda for future research. It argues that agenda-setting in the EU …
Agenda-setting strategies in EU policy processes
This paper develops a typology of strategies used by political actors to place issues on the Europena Union (EU) agenda. In doing so, it builds on a theoretically derived twofold distinction between two challenges in putting issues on the agenda (gaining attention and building credibility) and two factors that actors can affect (venues and frames). The resulting four types of strategy are further specified on the basis of the existing case study …
Opportunity Structures in the EU Multi-Level System
A wide range of approaches on EU interest representation rely on an (explicit or implicit) notion of political opportunity structure. Through a systematic review of four literatures (social movements and political contention, resource exchange in EU interest representation, venue shopping, and the political construction of scale), we show that these approaches exhibit close affinities in the way they use and conceptualise a notion of political op…
Crashing and creeping
Agenda-setting in the EU takes place in two ways: 'from above' through high-level political institutions urging EU action, and 'from below' through policy experts formulating specific proposals in low-level groups and working parties. This article formulates a theoretical framework for understanding the differences between these two processes. Moreover, it shows how they may interact and become intertwined in the course of actual agenda-setting p…
The Quest for Co‐ordination in European Regulatory Networks
The establishment of European Regulatory Networks (ERNs) has been presented as a way to promote the uniform implementation of EU law in a range of issue areas. This article argues that the level of co‐ordination achieved in ERNs crucially depends on the level of interdependence between Member State authorities in a given issue area. Drawing on a survey among national representatives in two ERNs and a set of in‐depth interviews, it shows that both…
Punctuated equilibrium theory and the European Union
This contribution discusses punctuated equilibrium theory (PET) and its application to European Union (EU) policy processes. It argues that PET includes two approaches, one that relies on case studies of individual issues and one that analyses overall distributions of policy change. Whereas the former approach has gained a strong foothold in studies of EU policy-making, application of the latter to the EU is still in its infancy. Because of its f…
Advocacy Coalitions and the Internationalization of Public Health Policies
This article looks at the impact of multilevel governance structures on state-society relations. It contends that rather than focusing on relations between state actors and societal actors, it is more useful to look at shifts between competing advocacy coalitions in a given issue area. It argues that the impact of multilevel governance structures on domestic advocacy coalitions depends on the political opportunity structure provided at the intern…
Paradigm formation and paradigm change in the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact
This article analyses whether the European Union’s (EU) Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) has been underpinned by a policy paradigm. In doing so, it seeks to contribute to the debate on the existence and importance of paradigms in policy-making. It uses a causal mapping technique to reconstruct the beliefs behind three key policy documents in the SGP’s development, assessing to what extent these beliefs conform to two dominant economic policy parad…
Differentiation through flexibility in implementation
This article analyses the extent to which European Union (EU) directives allow for variation in domestic implementation. Such flexibility in implementation may be used to deal with heterogeneity among member states. Based on an original dataset of 164 directives adopted between 2006 and 2015, we find that the use of flexibility is associated more with efforts to accommodate differences between national policies (substantive use of discretion) tha…
Different yet the same? Differentiated integration and flexibility in implementation in the European Union
Differentiated integration (DI) and flexibility in implementation (FI) are two forms of differentiation that can be used to cope with heterogeneity among EU member states. Given the different ways in which they do so, this article asks whether DI and FI are alternatives for each other or whether they serve different functions in EU legislation. Based on a dataset that maps the occurrence of opt-outs and flexibility provisions in EU directives, th…
Putting policy paradigms in their place
Additional informationNotes on contributorsBiographical notes: Sebastiaan Princen is Professor of Governance and Policymaking in the European Union at the Utrecht University School of Governance. Paul ’t Hart is Professor of Public Administration at the Utrecht University School of Governance and Associate Dean, Netherlands School of Public Administration
Trading Up in the Transatlantic Relationship
This article analyses the conditions under which a race to the top or California effect is likely to take place. To that end, it examines two cases in which the EU restricted or threatened to restrict imports from the United States and Canada because of differences in regulatory standards. In one case, the European data protection directive, a California effect occurred. In the other case, the EU ban on hormone-treated beef, no California effect …
Patterns of coordination in the European Commission
Organising effective policy coordination has become a key principle of EU policymaking in recent decades. Within the European Commission, interservice consultations (ISCs) play an important role to coordinate between the different directorate-generals. In spite of this importance, ISCs have so far not been analysed in a systematic way. This paper addresses this gap by systematically analysing the numbers, types and content of comments made in ISC…
From Summitry to EU Government
While some observers have claimed that the European Council has become the key institution in European Union politics, others have argued that the Council's role has remained relatively stable over time. In this article, we argue that an analysis of agenda formation dynamics in the European Council may help us understand better how the European Council works and how its role has evolved over time. Building on theories of agenda‐setting, we identi…
Differentiated policy implementation in the European Union
This special issue analyses the patterns, causes and consequences of Differentiated Policy Implementation (DPI) in the European Union (EU). DPI is an umbrella term for the diversity in the presence and use of discretion during legal and practical policy implementation processes and outcomes in the EU. The emergent DPI research agenda emphasises differentiation in EU policy implementation beyond mere legal compliance, which is more widespread, and…
Rethinking the European Social Market Economy
This contribution offers an introduction to the Special Issue ‘Rethinking the European Social Market Economy’. It places the Special Issue against the background of the debate on free markets versus social protection in the European Union and the inclusion of the notion of ‘social market economy’ in the Treaty on European Union. It sketches the meaning and development of the social market economy concept, and introduces the key questions underlyi…
Four Models of Protecting Citizenship and Social Rights in Europe
This article offers a synthesis of and conclusion to the contributions included in the Special Issue ‘Rethinking the European Social Market Economy’. Based on different understandings of citizenship in the European Union and the roles of the EU and its member states in providing social protection arrangements, it develops a typology of four models of the EU's role in social protection. It then discusses the contributions to this Special Issue in …
Time for Eu Matters
To what extent does the European Union (EU) affect national governments? This article seeks to answer this question by assessing the Europeanization of Dutch central government. Using data from a large-scale survey among civil servants, we assess to what extent the EU affects the structure and culture of governmental organizations, as well as the activities of individual civil servants. On the basis of this analysis, we conclude that the impact o…
Assessing the role of the European Council and the European Commission during the migration and Covid-19 crises
Over the past decades, ‘emergency politics’ has become a quasi-permanent feature of the European Union (EU). According to some, this has reinforced the trend towards a greater role for the European Council (EUCO) in EU agenda-setting, to the detriment of the European Commission (Commission). In this article, this claim is critically assessed by analysing two major crises: the 2015-2016 migration crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. By systematically…
Establishing cross-border co-operation between professional organizations
This article explores the conditions under which local and regional governments will establish and sustain cross-border co-operation in the fields of police, fire fighting and emergency health services. It argues that understanding this type of cross-border co-operation requires a focus on the way in which professionals define and apply their professional standards in cross-border contexts. Moreover, it requires a focus on individual organization…
The Deu Approach to Eu Decision-Making
This article discusses the strengths and limitations of the ‘Decision-Making in the EU (DEU) approach’ to EU decision-making, as exemplified by Robert Thomson's Citation(2011) Resolving Controversy in the European Union and the article by Thomson et al. in this issue. It spells out six assumptions underlying the DEU approach and critically reviews each in light of alternative theories of decision- and policy-making. Based on this assessment, it a…
EC Compliance with WTO Law
This article analyses the interplay of international law and domestic politics in producing compliance with GATT/WTO law. It seeks to assess whether the strengthening of GATT dispute settlement under the WTO has led to greater compliance on the part of the European Community. In doing so, it focuses on cases of trade-restrictive regulatory process standards. From an in-depth analysis of two cases in which the EC adopted such standards, the articl…
Information processing in the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy
The policy studies literature is divided on how information processing takes place in policy processes. Punctuated equilibrium theory claims that policymakers tend to process information disproportionately, giving more weight to some incoming signals than to others. By contrast, thermostatic models of policymaking argue that policymakers respond in a more proportionate way. In this paper, we analyse information processing in the adoption of Total…
Which Policy for Europe? Power and Conflict inside the European Commission
Which Policy for Europe? Power and Conflict inside the European Commission." West European Politics, 39(2), pp. 410–411
External pressure, bureaucratic politics and policy insiders
EC Compliance with WTO Law
This article analyses the interplay of international law and domestic politics in producing compliance with GATT/WTO law. It seeks to assess whether the strengthening of GATT dispute settlement under the WTO has led to greater compliance on the part of the European Community. In doing so, it focuses on cases of trade-restrictive regulatory process standards. From an in-depth analysis of two cases in which the EC adopted such standards, the articl…
Trading Up in the Transatlantic Relationship
This article analyses the conditions under which a race to the top or California effect is likely to take place. To that end, it examines two cases in which the EU restricted or threatened to restrict imports from the United States and Canada because of differences in regulatory standards. In one case, the European data protection directive, a California effect occurred. In the other case, the EU ban on hormone-treated beef, no California effect …
Crashing and creeping
Agenda-setting in the EU takes place in two ways: 'from above' through high-level political institutions urging EU action, and 'from below' through policy experts formulating specific proposals in low-level groups and working parties. This article formulates a theoretical framework for understanding the differences between these two processes. Moreover, it shows how they may interact and become intertwined in the course of actual agenda-setting p…
Agenda-setting in the European Union
Although agenda-setting processes are important for understanding policy-making in the European Union, the literature on EU governance has devoted little explicit attention to them. Drawing on studies in international relations, EU governance and agenda-setting in domestic politics, this article identifies some key elements of agenda-setting processes in the EU and formulates an agenda for future research. It argues that agenda-setting in the EU …
Advocacy Coalitions and the Internationalization of Public Health Policies
This article looks at the impact of multilevel governance structures on state-society relations. It contends that rather than focusing on relations between state actors and societal actors, it is more useful to look at shifts between competing advocacy coalitions in a given issue area. It argues that the impact of multilevel governance structures on domestic advocacy coalitions depends on the political opportunity structure provided at the intern…
Opportunity Structures in the EU Multi-Level System
A wide range of approaches on EU interest representation rely on an (explicit or implicit) notion of political opportunity structure. Through a systematic review of four literatures (social movements and political contention, resource exchange in EU interest representation, venue shopping, and the political construction of scale), we show that these approaches exhibit close affinities in the way they use and conceptualise a notion of political op…
Agenda-Setting in the European Union
Why does the EU deal with some issues but not others? This is the central question of this book dedicated to agenda-setting processes in the EU. Through a comparison of EU and US policy agendas and th
Les dynamiques d'agendas multiniveaux dans la politique environnementale de l'Union européenne
Cet article analyse la dynamique multiniveau des agendas environnementaux entre l’Union européenne et ses États-membres. L’enjeu est de déterminer si ces agendas interagissent et comment. À partir des données relatives aux agendas législatifs de l’UE et de quatre de ses États-membres (Danemark, France, Espagne et Royaume-Uni), l’article conclut que les types de problèmes traités au niveau de l’UE et de ses États-membres se recoupent de manière si…
Time for Eu Matters
To what extent does the European Union (EU) affect national governments? This article seeks to answer this question by assessing the Europeanization of Dutch central government. Using data from a large-scale survey among civil servants, we assess to what extent the EU affects the structure and culture of governmental organizations, as well as the activities of individual civil servants. On the basis of this analysis, we conclude that the impact o…
Agenda-setting strategies in EU policy processes
This paper develops a typology of strategies used by political actors to place issues on the Europena Union (EU) agenda. In doing so, it builds on a theoretically derived twofold distinction between two challenges in putting issues on the agenda (gaining attention and building credibility) and two factors that actors can affect (venues and frames). The resulting four types of strategy are further specified on the basis of the existing case study …
The Quest for Co‐ordination in European Regulatory Networks
The establishment of European Regulatory Networks (ERNs) has been presented as a way to promote the uniform implementation of EU law in a range of issue areas. This article argues that the level of co‐ordination achieved in ERNs crucially depends on the level of interdependence between Member State authorities in a given issue area. Drawing on a survey among national representatives in two ERNs and a set of in‐depth interviews, it shows that both…
The Deu Approach to Eu Decision-Making
This article discusses the strengths and limitations of the ‘Decision-Making in the EU (DEU) approach’ to EU decision-making, as exemplified by Robert Thomson's Citation(2011) Resolving Controversy in the European Union and the article by Thomson et al. in this issue. It spells out six assumptions underlying the DEU approach and critically reviews each in light of alternative theories of decision- and policy-making. Based on this assessment, it a…
Punctuated equilibrium theory and the European Union
This contribution discusses punctuated equilibrium theory (PET) and its application to European Union (EU) policy processes. It argues that PET includes two approaches, one that relies on case studies of individual issues and one that analyses overall distributions of policy change. Whereas the former approach has gained a strong foothold in studies of EU policy-making, application of the latter to the EU is still in its infancy. Because of its f…
Establishing cross-border co-operation between professional organizations
This article explores the conditions under which local and regional governments will establish and sustain cross-border co-operation in the fields of police, fire fighting and emergency health services. It argues that understanding this type of cross-border co-operation requires a focus on the way in which professionals define and apply their professional standards in cross-border contexts. Moreover, it requires a focus on individual organization…
Putting policy paradigms in their place
Additional informationNotes on contributorsBiographical notes: Sebastiaan Princen is Professor of Governance and Policymaking in the European Union at the Utrecht University School of Governance. Paul ’t Hart is Professor of Public Administration at the Utrecht University School of Governance and Associate Dean, Netherlands School of Public Administration
Which Policy for Europe? Power and Conflict inside the European Commission
Which Policy for Europe? Power and Conflict inside the European Commission." West European Politics, 39(2), pp. 410–411
From Summitry to EU Government
While some observers have claimed that the European Council has become the key institution in European Union politics, others have argued that the Council's role has remained relatively stable over time. In this article, we argue that an analysis of agenda formation dynamics in the European Council may help us understand better how the European Council works and how its role has evolved over time. Building on theories of agenda‐setting, we identi…
Paradigm formation and paradigm change in the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact
This article analyses whether the European Union’s (EU) Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) has been underpinned by a policy paradigm. In doing so, it seeks to contribute to the debate on the existence and importance of paradigms in policy-making. It uses a causal mapping technique to reconstruct the beliefs behind three key policy documents in the SGP’s development, assessing to what extent these beliefs conform to two dominant economic policy parad…
Lessons from the past? Cultural memory in Dutch integration policy
This article explores the contribution that cultural memory studies can make to the debate about the role of ideas and the dynamics of ideational change in policy making. Cultural memory studies engage with the cultural dimensions of remembering, and analyse how shared images of the past are mediated and transferred across distance and time. Such research shows how the past may continue to influence the present by informing the frameworks through…
Agenda-Setting and Framing in Europe
Studies of agenda-setting deal with the attention (or lack thereof) that issues receive in policy-making processes. It is intimately linked with framing, which serves to highlight certain (aspects of) issues to the detriment of others. Agenda-setting theory originated and was largely developed in the United States, but can fruitfully be applied in a European context as well. This chapter identifies and discusses the key insights from agenda-setti…
How strong is deliberation in EU intergovernmental decision making? Deliberation in the field of Justice and Home Affairs
The argument that intergovernmental decision making in the EU is not marked by bargaining alone and that occurrences of deliberation play an important role is gaining increasing recognition in the literature. In this article, we critically evaluate that claim by developing a notion of deliberation along Habermasian lines, in which deliberation is understood as a process that induces negotiating partners to change positions through argumentation. …
Rethinking the European Social Market Economy
This contribution offers an introduction to the Special Issue ‘Rethinking the European Social Market Economy’. It places the Special Issue against the background of the debate on free markets versus social protection in the European Union and the inclusion of the notion of ‘social market economy’ in the Treaty on European Union. It sketches the meaning and development of the social market economy concept, and introduces the key questions underlyi…
Four Models of Protecting Citizenship and Social Rights in Europe
This article offers a synthesis of and conclusion to the contributions included in the Special Issue ‘Rethinking the European Social Market Economy’. Based on different understandings of citizenship in the European Union and the roles of the EU and its member states in providing social protection arrangements, it develops a typology of four models of the EU's role in social protection. It then discusses the contributions to this Special Issue in …
Information processing in the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy
The policy studies literature is divided on how information processing takes place in policy processes. Punctuated equilibrium theory claims that policymakers tend to process information disproportionately, giving more weight to some incoming signals than to others. By contrast, thermostatic models of policymaking argue that policymakers respond in a more proportionate way. In this paper, we analyse information processing in the adoption of Total…
Different yet the same? Differentiated integration and flexibility in implementation in the European Union
Differentiated integration (DI) and flexibility in implementation (FI) are two forms of differentiation that can be used to cope with heterogeneity among EU member states. Given the different ways in which they do so, this article asks whether DI and FI are alternatives for each other or whether they serve different functions in EU legislation. Based on a dataset that maps the occurrence of opt-outs and flexibility provisions in EU directives, th…
Political science (31 works) · Economics (25 works) · European Union Policy and Governance (24 works) · European union (23 works) · Law (20 works) · Law (20 works) · International trade (18 works) · Policy Transfer and Learning (17 works) · Public Administration (15 works) · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies (13 works)