Table Of Content3660 Managing Europe from Home:2833Prelims 5/7/11 08:01 Page i
Managing Europe from home
3660 Managing Europe from Home:2833Prelims 5/7/11 08:01 Page ii
European Policy Research Unit Series
Series Editors: Simon Bulmer, Peter Humphreys and Mick Moran
The European Policy Research Unit Series aims to provide advanced
textbooks and thematic studies of key public policy issues in Europe. They
concentrate, in particular, on comparing patterns of national policy content,
but pay due attention to the European Union dimension. The thematic studies
are guided by the character of the policy issue under examination.
The European Policy Research Unit (EPRU) was set up in 1989 within the
University of Manchester’s Department of Government to promote research
on European politics and public policy. The series is part of EPRU’s effort to
facilitate intellectual exchange and substantive debate on the key policy issues
confronting the European states and the European Union.
Titles in the series also include:
Globalisation and policy-making in the European Union Ian Bartle
The Europeanisation of Whitehall Simon Bulmer and Martin Burch
The power of the centre: Central governments and the macro-implementation
of EU public policy Dionyssis G. Dimitrakopoulos
Creating a transatlantic marketplace Michelle P. Egan (ed.)
The politics of health in Europe Richard Freeman
Immigration and European integration (2nd edn) Andrew Geddes
Agricultural policy in Europe Alan Greer
The European Union and the regulation of media markets Alison Harcourt
Mass media and media policy in Western Europe Peter Humphreys
The politics of fisheries in the European Union Christian Lequesne
The European Union and culture: Between economic regulation and
European cultural policy Annabelle Littoz-Monnet
Sports law and policy in the European Union Richard Parrish
EU pharmaceutical regulation Govin Permanand
The Eurogroup Uwe Puetter
Regulatory quality in Europe: Concepts, measures and policy processes
Claudio M. Radaelli and Fabrizio de Francesco
Unpacking international organisations: The dynamics of compound
bureaucracies Jarle Trondal, Martin Marcussen, Torbjörn Larsson and
Frode Veggeland
Extending European cooperation Alasdair R. Young
Regulatory politics in the enlarging European Union Alasdair Young and
Helen Wallace
3660 Managing Europe from Home:2833Prelims 5/7/11 08:01 Page iii
Managing Europe
from home
The changing face of European policy making
under Blair and Ahern
Scott James
Manchester University Press
Manchester and New York
distributed in the Unites States exclusively
by Palgrave Macmillan
3660 Managing Europe from Home:2833Prelims 5/7/11 08:01 Page iv
Copyright © Scott James 2011
The right of Scott James to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by
him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Published by Manchester University Press
Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9NR, UK
and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA
www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
Distributed exclusively in the USA by
Palgrave Macmillan, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York,
NY 10010, USA
Distributed exclusively in Canada by
UBC Press, University of British Columbia, 2029 West Mall,
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for
ISBN 978 0 7190 8512 3 hardback
First published 2011
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any
external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee
that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Typeset
by Action Publishing Technology Ltd, Gloucester
Printed in Great Britain
by CPI Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire
3660 Managing Europe from Home:2833Prelims 5/7/11 08:01 Page v
Contents
List of boxes, figures and tables page vii
Preface xii
Acknowledgements x
List of abbreviations xii
1 Introducing the study 1
2 Setting the scene: the politics of Europe in the UK and Ireland 8
Part I Conceptualising the EU effect 21
3 The ‘strategic-projection’ model of Europeanisation 23
4 Analysing the national EU policy process 39
Part II Adapting to Europe 51
5 Mapping the network: strategic agendas and codes of conduct 53
6 Vertical networking: redistributing strategic resources 79
7 Horizontal networking: reconfiguring coordination 102
Part III Explaining adaptation 125
8 Singing from the same hymn sheet? Evaluating adaptation
strategy 127
9 Structure or agency? Measuring the EU effect 149
10 Conclusion: lessons for future reform 176
References 193
Index 206
3660 Managing Europe from Home:2833Prelims 5/7/11 08:01 Page vi
3660 Managing Europe from Home:2833Prelims 5/7/11 08:01 Page vii
Boxes, figures and tables
Boxes
4.1 A Guttman scale of coordination page 46
7.1 Committees for coordinating UK EU policy, 1973–97 103
7.2 Committees for coordinating Irish EU policy, 1973–2002 106
7.3 Committees for coordinating UK EU policy, 1997–2007 109
7.4 Committees for coordinating UK EU policy during the 2005
EU presidency 113
7.5 Committees for coordinating Irish EU policy, 2002–7 117
7.6 Committees for coordinating Irish EU policy during the 2004
EU presidency 119
Figures
3.1 Europeanisation as reception and projection 27
3.2 The ‘strategic-projection’ model of Europeanisation 29
3.3 A bottom-up research framework for analysing domestic
adaptation 37
4.1 A model of network development 43
5.1 The UK EU network in 1996 55
5.2 The Irish EU network in 1996 56
5.3 The UK EU network in 2007 57
5.4 The Irish EU network in 2007 58
5.5 The ‘inner core’ of the UK network since 1997 59
5.6 The ‘inner core’ of the Irish network since 1997 59
Tables
6.1 UK Ministers for Europe, 1997–2007 89
7.1 Parallel structures of coordination in the UK and Ireland
in 2007 121
9.1 Three tiers of domestic and EU-level policy-making structures 171
3660 Managing Europe from Home:2833Prelims 5/7/11 08:01 Page viii
3660 Managing Europe from Home:2833Prelims 5/7/11 08:01 Page ix
Preface
The United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland provide a fascinating
comparative case study into how member states, or rather the machinery
of central government, adapt to the ever-changing demands and
opportunities of European Union membership. Both states acceded to the
European Communities in 1973 and as latecomers to the negotiating table
have been forced to adjust to the institutional designs of the founding six
member states. Although the two countries have pursued separate and
distinctive trajectories with respect to their European diplomacy, in recent
years there has been a remarkable degree of political congruence between
the two. In particular, general elections in May and June 1997 heralded
the arrival of new governments (Labour in the UK, and Fianna
Fáil/Progressive Democrats in Ireland) and prime ministers (Tony Blair in
the UK and Bertie Ahern in Ireland), both committed to the projection of
a constructive EU policy and both of whom survived in power for over a
decade. Analysis of domestic change over this critical period of EU-level
institutional and policy upheaval therefore provides the perfect canvas
upon which to paint a picture of how two of Europe’s longest serving
premiers sought to adapt their respective national policy-making systems
in order to further their strategic interests and agendas in Brussels. It is
this challenge that provides the principal motivation and focus for this
book.
The analysis is concerned with addressing three questions in particular.
How was the national EU policy process adapted by Blair and Ahern in
an attempt to project policy preferences more effectively? How can we
evaluate the impact of adaptation on the capacity of the UK and Irish
governments to coordinate and project EU policy? To what extent was
adaptation driven by wider domestic reform processes or developments at
the EU level? To answer these, the study draws upon the valuable but
ubiquitous and highly contested concept of Europeanisation. It seeks to
shape the future direction of research in this crowded field by developing
and applying an innovative ‘strategic–relational’ model through which to
