Abstract
Formulating and implementing public policy in Europe has historically been a core task of national administrations. This study suggests how this role has become challenged in a least likely policy field – foreign affairs. The ambition is to reassess the autonomy of the European External Action Service (EEAS) by examining actor-level autonomy of EEAS staff, while also suggesting key determinants thereof. Two conditions of actor-level autonomy are empirically illuminated: bureaucratic structure and the geographical location of the EEAS.
Benefiting from two novel data sets which include a survey and élite interviews of EEAS officials, two empirical observations are highlighted. First, despite being an embryonic organization embedded in a field of core state powers, EEAS officials demonstrate substantial actor-level autonomy. Second, the behavioural autonomy of EEAS staff reflects primarily the supply of organizational capacities inside the EEAS, but much less the geographical location of staff. Actor-level autonomy is thus not only profound, but largely supplied by in-house organizational factors.
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Thomas Henökl and Jarle Trondal
Unveiling the Anatomy of Autonomy: Dissecting Actor-Level Independence in the European External Action Service
Journal of European Public Policy, vol. 22, no. 10, 2015, pp. 1426-47
DOI: 10.1080/13501763.2015.1020833