EU Specialisation - What is the European Union (Chapter 2)

Aproaches to understanding the EU

• International Organisation

• Regional Integration Association

• Unige (sui generis)

• political system (in its own right)

• A mix of all

Polity

An organised and structured system of the government and administration of a political unit, such as a state or city.

Dimensions of the EU

They are competing

• State vs IO

• Supranational vs Intergovernmental

• Confederation vs Federation

Comparative Politics

The systematic study of government and politics in different settings, designed to better understand them by drawing out contrasts and similarities.

Comparative Method

The process by which different cases are compared in order to better understand their qualities and to develop hypotheses, theories and concepts.

Regime

The rules and norms that lie at the basis of a system of government. The term can also be used to describe (sometimes with negative connotation) the holders of office within a government.

Why a comparative appraoch to understand the EU?

• shift occured around 1975

• IR approaches were to theoretical, and abstracted to much

• IR approaches ended up describing phenomena that did not appear in/ help understand day to day political behaviour/activity

Government

The institutions and officials that make up the formal structure by which states or other administrative units (counties, regions, provinces, cities, tow,s universities ect.) are managed and directed.

Governance

An arrangement by which decisions, laws and policies are made without the existance of formal institutions of government.

Multilevel Governance

popular since the 1990’s to describe the EU (in regards to it being a political system)

Has 4 main features:

• Is about governance, not government

• refers to a particular kind of relationship (both vertically and horizontally, between several institutional levels) that is not hirarchically ordered

• a negotiated order as opposed to an order defined by formalised legal frameworks

• often conceved as a political game

Federation

An administrative system in which authority is devided between two or more levels of government, each with independent powers and responsibilities

Unitary Administration

One in which there may be multiple levels of government but all real power lies in the hands of the national government

Types of federalism

• Dual federalism (layer cake federalism) - where local and national levels of government are distinct from each other with separate responsibilities.

• Cooperative federalism (marble cake federalism - where the layers are intermingled, and it is difficult to see who is ultimately responsible.

• Picket fence federalism - where national and local governments each have policies for which they alone are responsible.

Confederation

An administrative system in which independent states come together for reasons of security, efficiancy or mutual conveniance, retaining the powers they consider best reserved and working together through joint institutions on matters best dealt with together, such as foreign trade and security policy.