How Nation States 'Hit' Europe

Ambiguity and Representation in the European Union

Bibliographic Data

ID8041992
AuthorsJan Beyers (0000-0002-8287-1162, Leiden University), Jarle Trondal (0000-0002-6723-7761)
Year2004
Volume27
Issue5
Pages919-942
Publication date2004-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueWest European Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0140-2382 • E-ISSN: 1743-9655
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0140238042000283265
OpenAlexW1533912557
LanguageEN
Citations received40

Most studies of the EU and its member-states are concerned with how processes of European integration "hit" the member-states. This paper shifts emphasis from this "top-down" towards a "bottom-up" approach and asks whether and how differences in domestic institutional constellations shape the representational roles of member-state officials when carrying out representational tasks in the EU Council of Ministers. The paper's key objective is to build a conceptual framework that renders intelligible the domestic origins of representational roles among domestic officials attending EU institutions. For this we draw on theories of political representation, institutional theories and the literature on how member-states adapt to European integration. Our primary argument is that role perceptions are considerably conditioned by actors' domestic institutional embeddedness. This argument is substantiated by an illustrative comparison of Belgian and Swedish officials attending working groups within the Council of Ministers

Ambiguity · Argument (complex analysis · Council of Ministers · Economics · Embeddedness · European integration · European studies · European union · International trade · Member state · Member states · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science · European Union Policy and Governance · Law · Political Systems and Governance · Public Administration

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