Suchergebnisse

As the European Union (EU) has evolved, the study agenda has shifted from 'European integration' to 'EU politics'. Missing from this new agenda, however, is an understanding of the 'cognitive constraints' on actors and how actors respond, i.e. the shape of the EU 'political space' and the location of social groups and competition between actors within this space. The article develops a theoretical framework for understanding the shape of the EU political space (the interaction between an Integration-Independence and Left-Right dimension and the location of class and sectoral groups within this map), and tests this framework on the policy positions of the Socialist, Christian Democrat and Liberal party leaders between 1976 and 1994 (using the techniques of the ECPR Party Manifestos Group Project). The research finds that the two dimensions were salient across the whole period, explains why the party families converged on pro-European positions by the 1990s and discovers the emergence of a triangular 'core' of EU politics. (European Journal of Political Research / FUB)

THIS ARTICLE REVIEWS THE CURRENT STUDY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU), WHERE A NEW AGENDA IS EMERGING UNDER THE UMBRELLA OF "NEW GOVERNANCE." DESPITE ITS ECLECTICISM, THIS AGENDA ARGUES THAT THE EU IS NOT A STATE, BUT IT IS A UNIQUE SYSTEM OF NON-HIERARCHIAL, REGULATORY, AND DELIBERATIVE GOVERNANCE. THIS AGENDA ALSO CONCEPTUALIZES THE EU AS SUI GENERIS, EXPLAINS ITS DEVELOPMENT PRIMARILY BY (NEW) INSTITUTIONAL THEORY, AND SUGGESTS THAT LEGITIMACY IS GUARANTEED THROUGH TRANSPARENT, PARETO-EFFECIENT AND CONSENSUAL OUTPUTS. NEVERTHELESS, THIS AGENDA IS OPEN TO CRITICISM ON EMPIRICAL, METHODOLOGICAL, THEORETICAL, AND NORMATIVE LEVELS. SUCH A DIALETIC SUGGESTS A NEW DUALITY IN THE STUDY OF THE EU: BETWEEN NEW GOVERNANCE APPROACH AND A LESS DEVELOPED RIVAL AGENDA, WHICH TREATS EU POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT AS NOT INHERENTLY UNIQUE, COMPARES THE EU TO OTHER POLITICAL SYSTEMS, EXPLAINS THE OUTCOME THROUGH RATIONAL STRATEGIC ACTION, AND SUGGESTS THAT LEGITIMACY CAN BE GUARANTEED THROUGH CLASSIC DEMOCRATIC COMPETITION OVER INPUTS.