Overview

Fritz W. Scharpf's renowned model of the 'joint-decision trap' suggestes that the requirements of (nearly) unanimous decisions in the EU's Council of Ministers, combined with conflicting preferences among member governments, will systematically limit the problem-solving effectiveness of European policies. However, certain conditions have significantly changed in the 25 years since the theory was first posited. In particular, the unanimity rule has been replaced by qualified-majority voting in most issue areas, and successive rounds of enlargement have augmented the diversity of member state interests and preferences. This volume examines the continued relevance of the model. It presents a comparative study on the differential politics in EU policies. Looking at the political dynamics in an array of EU activities, it analyses breakthroughs as well as stalemates and asks why leaps occur in some areas whilst blockages characterise others. The dynamics that allow the EU to escape various forms of decision trap are analysed in-depth, including those suggested by 'rationalist' theorists (supranational-hierarchical steering, treaty-base games, and arena shifting) and those suggested by 'constructivist' approaches (socialisation). The volume concludes that when the EU is confronted with a high degree of problem pressure in a given issue area, these mechanisms will often not be available because most remain outside politicians' immediate grasp.

Full Product Details

Author:   Gerda Falkner (Director, Institute for European Integration Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences and Professor, University of Vienna)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 16.50cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 24.20cm
Weight:   0.592kg
ISBN:  

9780199596225

ISBN 10:   0199596220
Pages:   276
Publication Date:   12 May 2011
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Gerda Falkner: Preface Abbreviations List 1: Gerda Falkner: Introduction: The EU's Decision Traps and their Exits: A Concept for Comparative Analysis 2: Christilla Roederer-Rynning: The Paradigmatic Case: Beyond Emergency Exits in the Common Agricultural Policy 3: Susanne K. Schmidt: Overcoming the Joint-Decision Trap in Single-Market Legislation: The Interplay between Judicial and Legislative Politics 4: Philipp Genschel: One Trap, Many Exits, but no Free Lunch: How the Joint-Decision Trap Shapes EU Tax Policy 5: Zdenek Kudrna: Financial Market Regulation: A 'Lamfalussy Exit' from the Joint-Decision Trap 6: Johannes Pollak and Peter Slominski: Liberalising the EU's Energy Market: Hard and Soft Power Combined 7: Katharina Holzinger: Environmental Policy in the Joint-Decision Trap? The Critical Balance between 'Market Making' and 'Market Correcting' 8: Dorte Sindbjerg Martinsen and Gerda Falkner: Social Policy: Problem-Solving Gaps, Partial Exits and Court-Decision Traps 9: Florian Trauner: Increased Differentiation as an Engine for Integration? Studying Justice and Home Affairs 10: Nicole Alecu de Flers; Laura Chappell; Patrick Muller: The EU's Foreign and Security Policy: Incremental Upgrading of Common Interests and the Effects of Institutionalised Cooperation 11: Miriam Hartlapp: Organising Exits from the Joint-Decision Trap? Cross-Sectoral (Non-)Coordination in the European Union 12: Arthur Benz: Escaping Joint-Decision Traps: National and Supranational Experiences Compared 13: Fritz W. Scharpf: The JDT Model: Context and Extensions 14: Gerda Falkner: In and Out of EU Decision Traps: Comparative Perspectives

Reviews

The EUs Decision Traps provides a refreshing and in-depth insight into the power structures within the EUs institutional arena...and will be particularly interesting and useful to scholars studying EU decision-making and agenda-setting processes. Fabienne Zwagemakers, Plurilogue

Author Information

Gerda Falkner Associate Professor for Political Science at the University of Vienna and Director of the Institute for European Integration Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (www.eif.oeaw.ac.at). Her research focuses on European integration.

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