2009

In this essay Johan P. Olsen questions the analytical value of ‘autonomy’ as detachment-from-politics and the apolitical dynamics of change assumed by NPM reformers; that is, reforms understood and justified solely in terms of their contribution to functional efficiency and economy and a good and sustainable government. He aims aims to make sense of the processes through which institutions, democratic government included, achieve and lose autonomy or primacy and why it is difficult to find a state of equilibrium between democratic government and institutional autonomy.

ARENA Working Paper 01/2009 (pdf)

Johan P. Olsen

In this paper Raunio is discussing the connection between national parliaments and the EU. The main purpose of this paper is to critically examine the state of the research on the role of national parliaments in European integration and to suggest avenues for further research.

ARENA Working Paper 02/2009 (pdf)

Tapio Raunio

In this paper De Wilde is discussing Euroscepticism. This paper observes that studies on Euroscepticism either focus on the positions of individual parties on issues of European integration or on the character of public discourse in different member states. The present study incorporates the qualities of both strands, using the method of claims-making analysis. This study shows how the budget and its costs featured prominently in Dutch party politics and how the importance of this issue fed and featured Euroscepticism.

ARENA Working Paper 03/2009 (pdf)

Pieter de Wilde

In this essay Fossum is discussing the politically divising issue in Norwegian politics- membership in the European Union. Through the EEA agreement Norway has become tightly incorporated in the EU, and this incorporation poses challenges to the Norwegian democracy. Fossum is treating this issue thorugh Holmes' notion of 'gag rules'.

ARENA Working Paper 04/2008 (pdf)

John Erik Fossum

This paper analyses the EU cross-border provision of healthcare services. It shows the interplay between the Commission and the Court concerning welfare regulation in the EU. The paper concludes that law and evidence-based policy-making serve as powerful resources for the Commission in managing conflict.

ARENA Working Paper 05/2009 (pdf)

Dorte Sindbjerg Martinsen

Analysis on how digital media redefine the boundaries of the political public sphere.

ARENA Working Paper 06/2009 (pdf)

Hans-Jörg Trenz

This article addresses the critical issue of how constitutional designing of the EU is related to the expression of collective identities.

ARENA Working Paper 07/2009 (pdf)

Hans-Jörg Trenz

Expantion of the EU's executive capacity through agencies. An analysis on the genesis of the European Chemical Agency (ECHA).

ARENA Working Paper 08/2009 (pdf)

Maria Martens

In this paper the authors document that agency officials pay significantly less attention to signals from executive politicians than their counterparts within ministerial departments.

ARENA Working Paper 09/2009 (pdf)

Morten Egeberg and Jarle Trondal

In this paper the authors present fresh survey data showing that EU-level agencies are involved in the formulation of implementation guidelines and even in the handling of individual cases within national agencies. The article argues that the recent booming of EU-level agencies is strongly embedded within and conditioned by existing institutional structures.

ARENA Working Paper 10/2009 (pdf)

Morten Egeberg, Maria Martens and Jarle Trondal

This paper contests the standard interpretation of the cases Martínez Sala and Baumbast. It shows why they are not epochal judgments, but logical extensions of the pre-Maastricht case of the Court. Furthermore, it reveals why and how the judgments have radicalised the processes of Europeanisation of what used to be exclusive national competences, and the judicialisation of decision-making processes where representative institutions used to have the exclusive word.

ARENA Working Paper 11/2009 (pdf)

Agustín José Menéndez

This paper addresses the following paradox in Jon Elsters' writings: If it is only public reasons that can justify outcomes, how can private desires be the causes of the same outcomes?

ARENA Working Paper 12/2009 (pdf)

Erik O. Eriksen

This paper asks how ex ante and ex post control mechanisms structuring the involvement of national parliaments in EU policy-formulation affect the size and scope of conflict of parliamentary debates.

ARENA Working Paper 13/2009 (pdf)

Pieter de Wilde

This paper first aims to highlight the reactionary nature of Euroscepticism. Secondly, it argues for understanding Euroscepticism as a discursive formation in the public sphere rather than as a collection of party positions or characteristic of public opinion. Thirdly, it points to the media as central players and amplifiers of Euroscepticism.

ARENA Working Paper 14/2009 (pdf)

Hans-Jörg Trenz and Pieter de Wilde

Extending a line of argument begun by Fritz Scharpf, this paper shows that, where Coasian bargaining theory breaks down, a consensus of Member States is most unlikely to guarantee non-arbitrary decision-making.

ARENA Working Paper 15/2009 (pdf)

Christopher Lord