Policy Transfer in European Union Governance: Regulating the Utilities

by Bulmer; Simon J.

• ISBN13: 9780415374880
• ISBN10: 041537488X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-03-06
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This new book presents a clear conceptual framework for understanding the transfer of policy ideas between EU states, together with an empirical study of regulatory change within European utilities. Policy transfer is a new instrument for understanding EU policy-making. This volume shows how the nature of institutions, interdependence between trans-national and national jurisdictions and social systems, relate policy actors across geographical boundaries, identifying four basic types of EU policy transfer and learning: ?uploading?? how member states compete to shape the EU agenda in line with their own institutional arrangements and policy preferences ?downloading?? how states adapt to changing EU incentives and constraints ?socialization? ? how EU policy norms are internalized in the belief systems of domestic actors ?information exchange? between national actors in the course of EU interactions leading to a horizontal diffusion of policy ideas. The authors use an institutionalist perspective to show how these forms of policy transfer operate across the diverse systems of governance found across the EU. Policy Transfer in European Union Governance will be of great interest to students and scholars of European Union politics and policy, comparative public policy and political economy.

Author Biography

David Dolowitz is Reader in the School of Politics at the University of Liverpool, UK.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. ix
Preface	p. x
Acknowledgements	p. xii
List of abbreviations	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Utilities regulation as a focus of research	p. 1
The concept of policy transfer	p. 4
EU policy transfer	p. 6
The structure of the book	p. 9
EU governance and policy transfer	p. 11
Types of policy transfer and learning	p. 12
Policy transfer and EU governance	p. 17
Policy transfer to the member states	p. 25
Global conditioning of policy transfer	p. 28
Conclusion	p. 29
The external environment	p. 32
The impact of technological innovation	p. 32
Corporate ownership and structure	p. 37
International trends	p. 46
International Actors	p. 50
Conclusion	p. 53
Negotiated policy transfer	p. 55
Introduction	p. 55
Air transport	p. 56
Telecommunications	p. 69
Electricity	p. 81
Conclusion	p. 94
EU regulatory regimes	p. 96
Introduction	p. 96
Air transport	p. 97
Telecommunications	p. 113
Electricity	p. 122
Conclusion	p. 132
Domestic regulatory regimes	p. 136
The institutional context of domestic reform	p. 136
Institutional design of national regulatory regimes	p. 154
Learning from each other?	p. 165
Regulatory regimes across the EU	p. 171
Conclusion	p. 177
Conclusion	p. 179
The impact of globalization	p. 180
Negotiated policy transfer	p. 181
Hierarchical policy transfer	p. 184
Facilitated policy transfer	p. 185
The importance of timing and tempo	p. 186
The role of the UK model	p. 187
Policy transfer and EU governance	p. 189
Notes	p. 192
References	p. 196
Index	p. 214
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