Implementation across 15 countries and 6 directives: outcomes in the light of theoretical hypotheses
"The existing literature on EU policy implementation and Europeanisation presents a diverse array of hypotheses on the reasons for implementation success or failure. Based on the empirical results from our 90 case studies on the implementation of six EU social policy Directives in 15 member sta...
| Main Author: | |
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| Institution: | ETUI-European Trade Union Institute |
| Format: | TEXT |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Köln
2004
MPIfG |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19133752124919519349-implementation-across-15-count.htm |
| Summary: | "The existing literature on EU policy implementation and Europeanisation presents a diverse array of hypotheses on the reasons for implementation success or failure. Based on the empirical results from our 90 case studies on the implementation of six EU social policy Directives in 15 member states, this chapter discusses the most important of these hypotheses as well as a number of new ones that we formulated on the basis of our own theoretical considerations. At first sight, a rather untidy picture emerges. While most factors have some explanatory power for our cases, there is no single overriding variable (nor even a small set of variables) that may account for the transposition performance of the 15 member states. Nevertheless, some causal conditions turn out to be more important than others. We argue that, contrary to intergovernmentalist assumptions, the “upstream phase” (i.e. features of the EU decision-making process) has only a limited impact on the “downstream phase” of adaptation at the national level. Hence, the behaviour of a government in the “uploading” process tells us little about its performance in “downloading” the policies adopted in Brussels. Among the EU-level factors, a more important role is played by the legal quality of the underlying Directives. Thus, we have observed several cases where transposition problems occurred because the underlying provisions were worded vaguely or lacked clarity and consistency." |
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| Physical Description: | 25 p. Digital |