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Duke, Simon; Vanhoonacker, Sophie --- "Administrative Governance and CFSP" [2006] ELECD 282; in Hofmann, C.H. Herwig; Türk, H. Alexander (eds), "EU Administrative Governance" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006)

Book Title: EU Administrative Governance

Editor(s): Hofmann, C.H. Herwig; Türk, H. Alexander

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845422851

Section: Chapter 11

Section Title: Administrative Governance and CFSP

Author(s): Duke, Simon; Vanhoonacker, Sophie

Number of pages: 28

Extract:

11. Administrative governance and
CFSP
Simon Duke and Sophie Vanhoonacker

INTRODUCTION

The administrative level of the European Union, or the so-called `Brussels
bureaucracy',1 has enjoyed increasing attention from EU scholars in recent
years.2 Most studies however focus on the first pillar and concentrate on
the staff of the European Commission. The limited attention paid to the
administrative structures in the area of the Common Foreign and Security
Policy (CFSP) is though not surprising. During the years of European
Political Co-operation (EPC) (1970­1993), the administrators dealing with
foreign policy co-operation were primarily diplomats and civil servants in
the national capitals3 and it was not until the 1990s that the Brussels-based
administrative structure of European foreign policy really started taking
shape. `Brussels bureaucrats', as they were somewhat pejoratively called,
were not therefore welcome in the world of high politics until relatively
recently. It is for this reason that CFSP administrative structures have only
developed incrementally and, in many cases, they continue to develop in
response to the demands made upon the European Union.
The objective of this contribution is to apply the concept of administrative
governance to CFSP. The focus is not therefore on the political actors who
have formal responsibility over CFSP, although they are mentioned briefly in
passing for contextual reasons, but on the administrative level and a number
of interlinked questions. What is the role of the administration in the decision
making process and what is its impact on policy outcomes? Are ...