The Field of Eurocracy Mapping EU Actors and Professionals

by Georgakakis, Didier; Rowell, Jay

• ISBN13: 9781137294692
• ISBN10: 1137294698
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-12-12
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The term 'Eurocracy' is a word that exists in all European languages. Yet beyond fantasized representations of the 'Brussels bubble', we know little about members of the European Parliament, Commissioners, European civil servants, lobbyists, members of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, European trade unionists, diplomats and journalists who work in or around the EU institutions? What are their social and professional trajectories, the type of authority they possess, and how does it matter?

Based on extensive fieldwork, this volume aims at answering these questions by building upon Pierre Bourdieu's theory of the field of bureaucracy. 45 years after Altiero Spinelli's 'The Eurocrats', this book sheds new light on the relational structures that underpin the functioning of the EU polity. Specialists of European affairs, scholars and students in politics, administration and sociology as well as citizens will find original insights to understanding EU institutions and why the European project appears to be in crisis.

Author Biography

Didier Georgakakis is Professor of Political Science at the University of Paris Panthéon Sorbonne and member of the European Centre for Sociology and Political Science. A visiting professor at the College of Europe and a Jean Monnet Chair of European political sociology, his research focuses on EU politics and administration.

Jay Rowell is CNRS Research Director in Political Sociology at the University of Strasbourg and a member of the Society, Actors and Government in Europe research centre. His recent research interests include the sociology of EU actors and EU social policy.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Studying Eurocracy as a Bureaucratic Field; Didier Georgakakis, Jay Rowell
1. MEPs: Towards a Specialization of European Political Work?; Willy Beauvallet and Sébastien Michon
2. Tensions Within Eurocracy: A Socio-Morphological Perspective; Didier Georgakakis
3. The Permanent Representatives to the EU: Going Native in the European Field?; Filippa Chatzistavrou
4. ECB Leaders: a New European Monetary Elite?; Frédéric Lebaron
5. The World of European Information: The Institutional and Relational Genesis of the EU Public Sphere; Philippe Aldrin
6. Expert Groups in the Field of Eurocracy; Cécile Robert
7. Interest Groups and Lobbyists in the European Political Space: The Permanent Eurocrats; Guillaume Courty, Hélène Michel
8. The Personnel of the European Trade Union Confederation: Specifically European Types of Capital?; Anne-Catherine Wagner
9. European Business Leaders: A Focus on the Upper Layers of the European Field Power; François-Xavier Dudouet, Eric Grémont, Audrey Pageaut, Antoine Vion
Conclusion: The Field of Eurocracy: A New Map for New Research Horizons; Didier Georgakakis