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Chari, Raj S.; McMahon, Hilary --- "Selling off the state and supranational regulation: informal governance in the EU" [2004] ELECD 29; in Christiansen, Thomas; Piattoni, Simona (eds), "Informal Governance in the European Union" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2004)

Book Title: Informal Governance in the European Union

Editor(s): Christiansen, Thomas; Piattoni, Simona

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781843763512

Section: Chapter 7

Section Title: Selling off the state and supranational regulation: informal governance in the EU

Author(s): Chari, Raj S.; McMahon, Hilary

Number of pages: 15

Extract:

7. Selling off the state and supranational
regulation: informal governance in the
EU1
Raj S. Chari and Hilary McMahon

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES
One distinctive aspect of the EU as a supranational organization of states is its
unique institutional and legal framework, which structures the relationship
between its 15 members (Dinan 1994). However, what is also unique to
policy-making in the EU is the undercurrent of informal governance that exists
at both the domestic and supranational levels. Rhodes (1997) argued that we
no longer have a mono-centric or unitary system where there is one centre of
governance; rather, we are left with many centres linking the two different
levels. The political system of the EU, he argues, changed original power
dependency theory, whereby we are now faced with a relationship of interde-
pendence between various actors operating at different levels and across
cleavages. Such actors, including both private and public officials, form what
are known as `policy networks' whereby participation is limited and there are
defined roles: actors have the power to decide whether issues are included on
or excluded from the agenda, and the subsequent nature of policy-making
input and output dynamics transcend formal rules. The hypothesis of informal
governance is based on similar criteria, bringing in new actors at a multitude
of levels.
As discussed in Chapter 1 of this volume, informal governance may be
defined as the operation of networks of (like-minded) individuals and groups
pursuing common goals through regular, though non-codified and ...