Innovative and responsive? A longitudinal analysis of the speed of EU environmental policy making, 1967-97

In institutional terms, the European Union (EU) is considerably 'thicker' than it was thirty years ago, with many new layers of decision-making procedure and myriad new actors, including almost twice as many member states. Conventional wisdom suggests that policy systems, in which policy d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of European public policy 1999-01, Vol.6 (3), p.376-398
Main Authors: Jordan, Andrew, Brouwer, Roy, Noble, Emma
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Decision making
Environmental Policy
Europe
European integration
European Union
Institutionalism
Integration Theory
Intergovernmentalism
Neo-functionalism
Policy making
Policy Networks
Speed
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Summary:In institutional terms, the European Union (EU) is considerably 'thicker' than it was thirty years ago, with many new layers of decision-making procedure and myriad new actors, including almost twice as many member states. Conventional wisdom suggests that policy systems, in which policy development depends upon securing agreement among a concurrent majority of actors, are generally slow and collectively sub-optimal. However, a longitudinal analysis of the time taken to adopt environmental proposals in the period 1967-97 reveals that the policy process has become slightly faster not slower. This is despite an enormous growth in the scope and ambitiousness of the environmental acquis and a significant increase in the number of actors involved. The obvious conclusion is that actors have become steadily more effective at achieving consensus. These empirical findings are analysed against a number of predictions derived from macro- and middle-range theories of the EU.
ISSN:1350-1763
1466-4429
DOI:10.1080/135017699343586