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This article develops a formal model of the politics of delegation in the European Union (EU) incorporating key institutional features: the legislative-executive role of the Commission, the legislative-executive role of the members of the Council of Ministers, the possible implementation of European policies by different national administrations and the variety of EU decision rules. The model generates propositions on how decision rules, policy conflict and the status quo affect the delegation of powers to the Commission and to national authorities. It demonstrates how qualified majority voting and, in some cases, codecision work as a commitment technology by facilitating the adoption of legislation that restrains national authorities, shifts powers from national administrations to the Commission and increases its discretion. More generally, it shows that, first, the negative relation between conflict and discretion may not hold in the case of many administrators and a high threshold for decision-making; and, second, a less demanding bargaining environment in the legislature may work in favor of an administrator with agenda-setting power.

Turkey is in search of a new social contract premised on an extensive revision of the country's Kemalist inheritance and incorporating the economic and political transformations set in motion in the Ozal period. This is not a straightforward task for the reformist forces in Turkish politics and civil society; the imperative and nature of reform are the object of contestation between those factions within the bureaucratic and military elite that have associated their social supremacy with the maintenance of the Kemalist tradition and its preferred variant of modernization, and the emerging reformist forces which rally around the demand for Europeanization. In this internal struggle between the established model of authoritarian modernization and a more open modernist conception of political liberalism, the prospect of a deepened relationship between the EU and Turkey has played a significant role in shaping Turkish politics during the past two decades. 16 References. Adapted from the source document.

This article starts by discussing 'agencification' and fragmentation in national governments. When dealing with the problems that these developments might cause for democratic control and agency accountability, one only tends to look at the relationships between agencies and various national stakeholders, in particular ministerial departments. Has a 'methodological nationalism' hindered us from seeing the emerging executive centre at the level above, i.e. the European Commission, and the re-coupling of nationally decoupled agencies into a multilevel Union administration? The development of the EU, due to its peculiar institutional architecture, takes quite another direction than intergovernmental cooperation and comes to challenge governments in an unprecedented way. National agencies become parts of two administrations-a national as well as a Union administration. Adapted from the source document.

Much attention has been paid to the ongoing and unpredictable Brexit negotiations between the EU and the UK, but much less on what the absence of the UK might entail for the remaining 27 EU Member States. This book explores the range of implications for the EU after Brexit, and whether it is likely to become stronger or weaker as a result. It reviews the different attitudes on the EU's future within both the member states and the individual EU institutions, and examines the impacts of Brexit on the composition of the EU institutions and on the balance of power between the member states. It also looks at linguistic and cultural impacts, the UK's wider legacy for the EU and possible changes in EU priorities. The author concludes that Brexit has reinforced the EU's unity in the short term, but that the EU will have to confront a number of key challenges if it is to be reinforced in the longer term. This book will appeal to practitioners, scholars and students interested in EU politics and integration in general, and Brexit in particular

Cram attempts to clarify the integration that is central to the European Union (EU). Scholarship by Spinelli, Deutsch, & Haas is cited, with the author leaning toward the last's view of integration as an organic, ongoing, & formative experience for participating nations. There is consideration of integration as the creation of a supranational political union that might outstrip & end in conflict with the momentum of individual nations. Haas's "spillover" theory is delineated. Examination of the issue of control of integration involves review of neofunctionalism & its critics, including Hoffmann. The shift of politics from between member states to within the EU has led to specialized zones of "high politics." It is suggested that the goal of determining the EU's identity may be partially satisfied by comparing it with nations or federal states. A look at the EU policy process further aids dissection, with the author focusing on the evolution of formal rules, informal aspects of policy, an outline of the policy process, examples of agenda-setting, the decision-making role of the Council of Ministers, & factors involved in implementation, enforcement, & specific policy areas. Majone's interpretation of the EU as a regulatory state is included. 20 References. M. C. Leary

The main objective of the text is to present an analysis that points to the existence of special "energy cultures" in the European Union. The comparative analysis encompassing the results of previous research into "energy cultures" employs statistical methods, i.e. a cluster analysis (Ward's clustering method and k-means clustering method). The main sections of the text address: (1) the concept and examples of "energy cultures", (2) a methodology of analysis, (3) aselection of indexes characterising "energy cultures", (4) an attempt at grouping the European Union member states with the aid of clustering, (5) conclusions. With a view to making the research problem more specific, the present text features the following questions: (1) Is the claim that the European Union manifests special 'energy cultures' legitimate?, (2) Did the decade of 2001-2011 witness changes in the field of the European Union 'energy cultures', as earlier recognised by the literature?

Background and recent institutional restructuring.