Europeanization of Policies and Administration

Abstract

This chapter assesses the state of play in Europeanization research, focusing on the impact of European integration on national policies and administrations. After dissecting the concept of Europeanization, it sketches this literature’s guiding question: how to account for differential domestic impacts of European integration. It then describes how much Europeanization research has shifted away from a top down focus on institutional misfits to creative strategic use of EU inputs by domestic stakeholders. Furthermore, it establishes a marked pluralization of policy-oriented research, which now encompasses a great variety of policy sectors, (member) states and EU inputs. In the realm of administrative adaptation, similarly, Europeanization research has clearly gone beyond the initial focus on national coordination systems, to encompass EU-induced changes in administrative structures and individual attitudes.