Papers by Adrienne Héritier
Journal of European Public Policy, Dec 1, 2012
ABSTRACT The article examines how changes of powers in the inter-institutional balance have affec... more ABSTRACT The article examines how changes of powers in the inter-institutional balance have affected the willingness of the Commission and the Council to delegate legislative power to comitology committees. Starting from the assumption that actors seek to maximize their institutional power in order to increase their influence over policy outcomes, we argue that changes of institutional rules affect their willingness to adopt legislation through comitology procedures. We examine the effects of the introduction of the 1999 comitology decision, which increased the competences of the Commission in the comitology procedure by abolishing the ‘double safety net’. We show that the Commission has proposed delegation to management and regulatory committees more extensively since the adoption of this decision. Surprisingly, the Council – which saw its own competences reduced by the decision – did not put up significant resistance to the more frequent use of delegation.
Journal of European Integration, Apr 3, 2019
With the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament (EP) obtained codecision rights in economic gover... more With the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament (EP) obtained codecision rights in economic governance for the first time. Soon afterwards, the outbreak of the eurozone crisis required a reform of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). When negotiating EMU reform, the EP sought to push its rights beyond the Lisbon provisions, so as to obtain an informal institutional change to its benefit. How and under which conditions did the EP extend its informal powers successfullyand when did it fail? By focusing on two crucial strategiesdelaying and arena-linkingwe compare instances of EMU reform where the EP succeeded in reaching an informal empowerment to cases where it failed. We find that the urgency of decision-making and its distributional consequences influence the EP's chances of success. While urgency plays a crucial role in times of crisis, distributional consequences come to bear in policies where core state powers are at stake.
West European Politics, Dec 8, 2010
The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS), directed by Stefano Bartolini since Septe... more The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS), directed by Stefano Bartolini since September 2006, is home to a large post-doctoral programme. Created in 1992, it aims to develop inter-disciplinary and comparative research and to promote work on the major issues facing the process of integration and European society. The Centre hosts major research programmes and projects, and a range of working groups and ad hoc initiatives. The research agenda is organised around a set of core themes and is continuously evolving, reflecting the changing agenda of European integration and the expanding membership of the European Union.
European administrative governance, 2019
West European Politics, Sep 1, 2012
This paper investigates a recent trend in EU legislative politics: the de facto shift of decision... more This paper investigates a recent trend in EU legislative politics: the de facto shift of decisionmaking from public inclusive to informal secluded arenas, and the subsequent adoption of legislation at first reading. Previous research has explained why fast-track legislation occurs and evaluated its democratic consequences. This study focuses on how the EP has responded to the steep increase in informal and fast-tracked legislation. First, we show how fast-track legislation has informalised legislative decision-making, transformed inter-organisational relations, and created new asymmetrical opportunities and constraints. Second, we theorise the political discontents in response to this transformation. Drawing on rational choice institutionalism and bargaining theory, we argue, first, that actors will seek to redress asymmetrical opportunities through institutional reform; that attempts of redress will centre on the control of negotiation authority and information flows; and that institutional reform will be highly contested. Second, we suggest that the chances of successful redress will be low in the EP as a decentralised organisation unless two conditions are met: 1) the extent of fast-track legislation reaches a critical level, and 2) the organisation goes through a period of wider reform; the former will facilitate reform through the increased visibility of disempowerment and reputational costs; the latter through package deals in a multi-issue negotiation space, and/or the strategic evocation of collective parliamentary norms. Third, we probe our argument by analysing how the EP's rules pertaining to codecision have been contested, negotiated and reformed from the introduction of fast-track legislation in 1999 to the adoption of the Code of Conduct for Negotiating Codecision Files in 2009. Based on qualitative document analysis and semi-structured elite interviews, our paper offers a first systematic analysis of how fast-track legislation has impacted on intraorganisational politics and reform in the EP.
VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften eBooks, 1993
Die Policy-Analyse1 sowohl in ihrer beschreibend-erklarenden als auch beratenden Form blickt auf ... more Die Policy-Analyse1 sowohl in ihrer beschreibend-erklarenden als auch beratenden Form blickt auf eine Zeit der Verunsicherung zuruck. In den 80er Jahren wurde die Erklarungskraft ihrer steuerungstheoretischen Annahmen und der Nutzen der verwendeten Begrifflichkeit ebenso wie die methodologische und demokratisch-legitimatorische Basis ihrer Beratungstatigkeit nachdrucklich in Zweifel gezogen. So wurde kritisiert, das die politischen Instrumente, die sie unterscheidet, in der unordentlichen Wirklichkeit nicht greifen und die erwunschten Wirkungen hervorbringen. Empirische Befunde ergaben, das die Phasen ihres politischen Prozesmodells „Problemdefinition, Politikformulierung, Implementation und Evaluation/Feedback-Loop“ sich nicht — wie konzipiert — funktional getrennt logisch aneinanderreihen. Vielmehr konnen sie simultan verlaufen oder sich in der Richtung umkehren. Auch lassen sich einzelne Politikinhalte oder Policies in keiner Phase des politischen Prozesses klar und sauberlich voneinander trennen, sondern uberlappen und beeinflussen sich wechselseitig. Daruber hinaus wurde der praktisch-beratenden Policy-Analyse vorgeworfen, sie diene als technokratisches Herrschaftsinstrument. Trotz der Enttauschung uber die mangelnde steuerungstheoretische Erklarungskraft und den eher bescheidenen wissenschaftlich-beraterischen Erfolg der Policy-Analyse gelang es jedoch, die erfahrene Kritik konstruktiv zu wenden. Die Verunsicherung und Selbstzweifel mundeten in konzeptionelle und theoretische Weiterungen, die die Policy-Analyse deutlich bereichert haben. So wurden in den analytischen Uberlegungen Ideen und Argumenten bei der Erklarung der Entstehung von Policies mehr Bedeutung zugemessen. Um der Unordentlichkeit des politischen Alltags und dem verschrankten Handeln staatlicher und privater Akteure Rechnung zu tragen, wurden die Policy-Netzwerkanalyse, das Garbage Can-Modell und das Konzept der Policy Advocacy-Koalition in die Analyse integriert. Auch die sektorelle, funktionale und internationale Verflechtung von politischen Masnahmen wurde zunehmend berucksichtigt. Bei der wissenschaftlichen Politikberatung erfolgte mit dem „Postpositivismus“ und der „partizipatorischen Policy-Analyse“ eine methodologische und demokratietheoretische Neubesinnung. Die erwahnten Neuerungen und Weiterungen vollzogen sich zum einen explizit als Antwort auf die konstatierten Mangel; zum anderen ergaben sich Veranderungen aus der Integration von theoretischen Entwicklungen, die sich davon unabhangig in Politikwissenschaft, Soziologie und Okonomie vollzogen hatten (so im Fall der Policy-Netzwerk-Analyse und des „Garbage Can“-Ansatzes). Beide Formen der Neuorientierung trugen zur Ausdifferenzierung der Begrifflichkeit und der Fragestellungen der Policy-Analyse bei und sollen in diesem Band zu Worte kommen.
Oxford University Press eBooks, Sep 4, 2003
Cornell University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2019
Journal of European Public Policy, Jun 1, 1997
The institutional context of European policy-making, its redistributive content, sheer scope, and... more The institutional context of European policy-making, its redistributive content, sheer scope, and the need to accommodate diverse, and often conflicting, interests and goals, together tend to have a stalling effect on the policy-making process. Policy innovation continues ...
Journal of European Public Policy, Dec 1, 1997
How do European policies affect national policy-making patterns and problem-solving capacity, and... more How do European policies affect national policy-making patterns and problem-solving capacity, and to what extent do national policy-makers seek to influence European politics? In particular, what impact does European road haulage policy have on national policy within the context of the Single Market Programme (SMP)? How can the domestic policy response of four member states - Britain, the Netherlands, Germany
Journal of European Public Policy, 2001
Although the goal of market integration has not actually been challenged in recent years, it has ... more Although the goal of market integration has not actually been challenged in recent years, it has nevertheless increasingly come to be considered incomplete and in need of complementary goals which serve the general interest by promoting social cohesion and ...
Journal of European Public Policy, 2003
... Composite democracy in Europe: the role of transparency and access to information. Author: Hé... more ... Composite democracy in Europe: the role of transparency and access to information. Author: Héritier A. 1. Source: Journal of European Public Policy, Volume 10, Number 5, October 2003 , pp. 814-833(20). Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group. ...
Comparative Political Studies, Dec 5, 2011
This article investigates a widespread yet understudied trend in EU politics: the shift of legisl... more This article investigates a widespread yet understudied trend in EU politics: the shift of legislative decision making from public inclusive to informal secluded arenas and the subsequent adoption of legislation as "early agreements." Since its introduction in 1999, "fast-track legislation" has increased dramatically, accounting for 72% of codecision files in the Sixth European Parliament. Drawing from functionalist institutionalism, distributive bargaining theory, and sociological institutionalism, this article explains under what conditions informal decision making is likely to occur. The authors test their hypotheses on an original data set of all 797 codecision files negotiated between mid-1999 and mid-2009. Their analysis suggests that fast-track legislation is systematically related to the number of participants, legislative workload, and complexity. These findings back a functionalist argument, emphasizing the transaction costs of intraorganizational coordination and information gathering. However, redistributive and salient acts are regularly decided informally, and the Council presidency's priorities have no significant effect on fast-track legislation. Hence, the authors cannot confirm explanations based on issue properties or actors' privileged institutional positions. Article Reh et al. 1113 Finally, they find a strong effect for the time fast-track legislation has been used, suggesting socialization into interorganizational norms of cooperation.
Social Science Research Network, 2002
Journal of European Public Policy, 1999
Whilst the lack of democratic legitimation in the European polity is striking when measured again... more Whilst the lack of democratic legitimation in the European polity is striking when measured against member state parliamentarian democracies, this focus shifts attention off those less obvious empirical processes which enhance democratic legitimation in Europe. In order to compensate for the slow and incremental nature of democratisation, the Commission has sought to develop elements of substitute democratic legitimation via the transparency programme which attempts to bridge the gap between Brussels and member state citizens, and the creation of supportive networks. Accountability is also strengthened by structural and processual elements inherent in European policy-making-mutual horizontal control and distrust among actors in a diverse, negotiational democracy, and competition among multiple authorities. The described strategies and processes reinforce democratic support and accountability but do not allow the democratic definition of overall goals for the European polity as such. I.
Governance, Oct 1, 2003
Current approaches to the understanding of institutional change in the European Union have diffic... more Current approaches to the understanding of institutional change in the European Union have difficulty in understanding how intergovernmental bargaining and day-today institutional change interact. This article develops a theoretical framework to understand this interaction, and applies it to the legislative process of codecision between European Parliament and Council. The formal Treaty changes which gave rise to codecision have in turn given rise to a plethora of informal institutions, in a process which cannot be grasped by using dominant modes of analysis. This article provides a framework for analyzing the relationship between formal and informal institutions, showing how the two may be recursively related. Formal institutional change at a particular moment in time may give rise to informal institutions, which in turn may affect the negotiation of future formal institutions. The article applies this framework to the codecision process, showing how the codecision procedure has led to the creation of informal institutions and modes of decision making, which in turn have affected subsequent Treaty negotiations. Through strategic use of the relationship between formal and informal institutions, Parliament has been successful in advancing its interests over time, and increasing its role in the legislative process. Kurzfassung Gegenwärtige Theorien über den institutionellem Wandel in der Europäischen Union haben Schwierigkeiten, den Zusammenhang zwischen intergouvernementalem Verhandeln und alltäglichen kleinen Veränderungen in der institutionellen Praxis zu erfassen. Der vorliegende Aufsatz entwickelt einen theoretischen Rahmen, der die Interaktion zwischen beiden Ebenen erklären soll und wendet diese auf den Gesetzgebungsprozess unter dem Mitentscheidungsverfahren des Europäischen Parlamentes und des Ministerrats an. Die formellen Vertragsänderungen, die das Mitentscheidungsverfahren schufen, brachten eine Vielzahl von informellen Institutionen hervor, in einem Prozess, der durch vorliegenden theoretisch-analytischen Ansätze nicht erfasst wird. Der Artikel entwickelt einen Ansatz, um den Zusammenhang zwischen formellen und informellen Institutionen zu verstehen, und zeigt, dass beide rekursiv miteinander verbunden sein können. Formeller institutioneller Wandel kann zu einem gegebenen Zeitpunkt informelle Institutionen hervorbringen, die ihrerseits die Verhandlung von zukünftigen formellen Institutionen beeinflussen können. Dies wird anhand des Mitentscheidungsverfahrens gezeigt, das informelle Formen der Entscheidungsfindung entstehen ließ, die ihrerseits wiederum Anlass zur formellen institutionellen Reform gaben.Durch einen strategischen Einsatz des Verhältnisses zwischen formellen und informellen Institutionen hat das Europäische Parlament im Verlaufe der Zeit erfolgreich seine Interessen durchgesetzt und seine Rolle im Gesetzgebungsverfahren erhöht.
Journal of European Public Policy, Jun 1, 1996
European regulation often gains features of a "policy patchwork" in which diverse regulatory appr... more European regulation often gains features of a "policy patchwork" in which diverse regulatory approaches are linked under the roof of one and the same Directive. Alternatively, one European measure may be modelled after the regulatory style of one member state, while the next follows the regulatory approach of another. ?hus, in the field of clean air policy some Directives are shaped according to the German tradition geared towards technology-based emission control while others are patterned after the British model of regulating ambient air quality. The distinctive regulatory elements are not systematically linked in a comprehensive European policy scheme, but simply added to each other. The patchwork character of European regulatory policy is the result of a process of interest accommodation which shows specific patterns of coordination. The latter and their results are the object of investigation here. The analysis starts from two assumptions: First, it is assumed that © The Author(s). European University Institute.
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Papers by Adrienne Héritier