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Bargaining, arguing and functional differentiation of decisionmaking: the role of committees in European environmental process regulation
[collection article]
Abstract "Committees play an important role in the European Community. In
quantitative terms, the estimated number of committees existing under the
auspices of the Community institutions ranges between several hundred to
a thousand. The committees are regularly attended by more than 50,000
people: scientists... view more
"Committees play an important role in the European Community. In
quantitative terms, the estimated number of committees existing under the
auspices of the Community institutions ranges between several hundred to
a thousand. The committees are regularly attended by more than 50,000
people: scientists, civil servants and representatives of interest groups. In
qualitative terms, committees provide the foundation for 'bureaucratic'
integration theories that emphasise the emergence of a European bureaucratic
elite or envisage the 'fusion' of national and European state
bureaucracies. Based on empirical investigations into committee decisionmaking
in the foodstuffs sector, the members of the Bremen research
project have not only claimed that governance by committees is located
somewhere between intergovernmentalism and supranationalisirp but they
also believe that some core institutional features of the EC should be read
as 'supranational versions of deliberationist ideals'. In combination with European law, committees are expected to transform 'strategic interaction
into deliberative problem-solving'. In this way, a form of governance by
committees emerges that need not necessarily reflect an awkward political
compromise - in fact, it may approach a normative ideal that is not even
attained within the political systems of the Member States.
Committees therefore represent a particular form of institutionalised
decision-making for European governance which is only just beginning to
be understood. However, it remains largely unclear whether, and why,
committees matter for European governance. They will generally be
meaningful if they influence the outcomes of decision-making processes.
Thus, the question arises, how can committees affect decisions in ways that
non-committee decision-making processes cannot, and in what kind of
mechanism is their influence rooted? In particular, do the participating
actors behave differently in committees than outside, and if so, why and
under which conditions? This last question cannot be tackled without a
distinct concept of interaction among the participating actors." (excerpt)... view less
Keywords
EU; Europe; governance; bureaucracy; EC; empirical research; institutionalization
Classification
Special areas of Departmental Policy
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
European Politics
Method
documentation
Collection Title
EU committees: social regulation law and politics
Editor
Joerges, Christian; Vos, Ellen
Document language
English
Publication Year
1999
Publisher
Hart
City
Oxford
Page/Pages
p. 195-217
ISBN
1-901362-68-X
Licence
Deposit Licence - No Redistribution, No Modifications
Data providerThis metadata entry was indexed by the Special Subject Collection Social Sciences, USB Cologne