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"This important collection examines the emerging bureaucratic framework which underpins the European Union and in doing so constitutes a primer on the administrative system of the EU. Drawing on the latest research from the administrative sciences and using organizational, institutional and decision-making theories, this volume highlights that analyzing the patterns and dynamics of the administrative capacities of the EU are essential in understanding how the EU shapes European public policy. Accordingly, this study does not examine administrative capacities not in isolation but rather analyzes them as structures that mobilize systematic bias in the production of public policy. This layout allows the chapters to tackle pressing questions about the nature of the EU's emerging bureaucracy such as to what extent, how and under what conditions do administrative systems change and complement pre-existing public administration systems? Can new administrative systems profoundly transform pre-existing ones? And What are the principled implications of an emergent new European administrative system? "--

Part I. Dismantling debates and analytical approaches. 1. Policy dismantling: an introduction / Andrew Jordan, Christoffer Green-Pedersen, and John Turnpenny -- 2. Understanding policy dismantling: an analytical framework / Michael W. Bauer and Christoph Knill -- Part II. The dynamics of policy dismantling. Active dismantling. 3. Sequences of active policy dismantling? Path dependency in pension reform processes / Sophie Schmitt -- 4. Active dismantling under high institutional constraints? Explaining the Bush administration's attempts to weaken US air pollution control policy / Stefanie Korte and Helge Jörgens -- Dismantling by default. 5. From dismantling by default to arena shifting? Child benefits policy in Spain / Andrea Bianculli, Nicole Jenne, and Jacint Jordana -- 6. Dismantling by default? The indexation of social benefits in four countries / Christoffer Green-Pedersen, Flemming Juul Christiansen, Eva-Maria Euchner, Carsten Jensen, and John Turnpenny -- Dismantling by symbolic action. 7. When the dismantling of an ineffective policy becomes increasingly costly: default strategies, arena shifting, and symbolic action in German waste policy / Dominik Bernauer and Christoph Knill -- 8. From dismantling by default to symbolic dismantling? Water policy in the United Kingdom / Andrew Jordan and John Turnpenny -- Part III. Comparative conclusions. 9. Dismantling public policy: preferences, strategies, and effects / Michael W. Bauer, Andrew Jordan, Christoffer Green-Pedersen, and Adrienne Héritier

This book puts the organizational base of EU policy-making centre stage. It asks three crucial questions about recent administrative reform of the European Commission: why was such a comprehensive reform possible; what are its specific implications for the Commission as an organization; what is the likely impact for the policy process?

How can we approach the Commission's role as co-manager of policy implementation? Why should we expect the Commission to be pulled into domestic policy execution and to accumulate something like an implementation management capacity? How should we conceptualise the Commission's linkage with post-decision management issues? Finally, how does the Commission's involvement in the application of EU policies, if any, significantly change everything? Such questions are answered in this study, which is concerned with what may be called the implementation management capacity of the European Commission. Simply put, this is the role the Commission plays in the implementation of large-scale European spending programmes. While it is true that the Commission's predominant prerogatives are to draft legislation and facilitate bargaining, it also has a role in post-decision policy management. This role is of increasing importance for the emerging governance of the European Union. Readership: social scientists, journalists and all those interested in the role of the European Commission in shaping EU policies

AbstractPopulist, illiberal, or outright autocratic movements threaten democracies worldwide, particularly when such extreme political forces gain control of executive power. For public administration illiberal backsliders in government pose a dilemma. Trained on instrumental values and expected to implement neutrally the political choices of their elected superiors, bureaucrats lack orientation of how to act in situations when obeying their own government may mean becoming an accomplice to democratic regression. Against this background, this article maps the dubious demands of backsliders in government as well as the potential reactions of bureaucrats to them. Public administration thinking is subsequently examined with a view to showing how administrative resistance to democratic backsliding could be normatively justified. Finally, the article provides practical recommendations to enhance the resilience of democratic public administration in the face of illiberal challenges.

Growth in membership and intensifying responsibilities require much greater adaptability in organizational structures and administrative arrangements at international than at national levels. The ongoing transformation toward multilevel governance seems to empower international organizations and thus shines a new spotlight on international civil servants. We know little, however, about what motivates this growing class of bureaucratic elite. Against this background, this article explores the question as to how officials of the European Commission relate to the recent management modernization within their institution (Kinnock reform). Competing explanatory approaches (opportunity, socialization, and governance views) are used to develop hypotheses about the relationship between Commission officials and their acceptance of or opposition to administrative reform. The main finding is that the individual attitudes of Commission officials toward administrative change can best be explained by the opportunity model, which emphasizes the rational calculation of individual costs and benefits.

The Kinnock reform has changed the European Commission. This article discusses the link between reform effects and policy output. A survey of more than 100 heads of unit (HoU) of policy-making Directorates-General serves as the empirical basis. It is concluded that the recent reform of the Commission does indeed comprehensively redefine the role of the HoU. Their resource base to focus on policy drafting has been hugely reduced. Negative consequences for the organization's potential to deliver policy draft of high quality are therefore very likely.Points for practitionersThis article deals with the following areas:• Middle management as organizational backbone• The perils of decentralizing management functions• The impact of administrative reform on policy output.