The normalization of the European Commission : politics and bureaucracy in the EU executive / Anchrit Wille.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wille, A. C. (Anchrit C.), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

European Commission.

Physical Description:

xii, 243 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2013.

Summary:

The European Commission started out in the 1950s as a technocratic international organization. Today, it has acquired many of the organization features and behavioural patterns that are highly typical of the 'normal' executives in national settings. This 'normalization' of the EU executive is due to a series of treaty reforms and internal administrative transformations that were effectuated after the demise of the Santer Commission. Based on a large number of in-depth interviews with commissioners, heads of cabinet, and senior civil servants in the Commission, and on extensive documentary evidence, this study shows how a reinforced regime of political and administrative accountability has profoundly changed the executive relationships between politicians and bureaucrats in the Commission. The book presents a grounded empirical portrait of life at the top in the EU, exposing the Commission's struggle to revive its legitimacy and to turn it into a more transparent, accountable, and efficient organization during the Prodi and Barroso tenures. Officials and office-holders describe in their own words the imperatives they face and the relationship they maintain, providing readers a rare insight into the day-to-day practices of one of the world's most powerful executives. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Normalized Executive Politics 10

2 The Reinvention of the European Commission 33

3 From Technocrats to Politicians: The Commissioners 57

4 From National Agents to EU Advisers: The Chefs of Cabinet 97

5 From Mandarins to Managers: The Senior Civil Service 119

6 An Emerging Political-Administrative Dichotomy 146

7 Executive Relationships in a 'Normalized' EU Commission 162

8 The Normalization of the EU Commission 186.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199665693

0199665699

OCLC:

828415702