The Europeanization of British Environmental Policy: From Policy "Taking" to Policy "Shaping"

Jordan, Andrew. (2003) The Europeanization of British Environmental Policy: From Policy "Taking" to Policy "Shaping". In: UNSPECIFIED, Sheffield, UK.

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Abstract

[From the Introduction]. The emergence of the term ‘Europeanization’ reflects a growing desire to catalogue and explain the various feedback processes between the different administrative levels of what is now widely perceived to be a multi-level system of governance in the EU. However, there is no single, all-encompassing ‘theory’ of Europeanization, and even its basic meaning remains contested. However, the mainstream opinion is that Europeanization research should seek to understand the domestic impacts of European integration (Jordan, 2002a; 2003). Boerzel (2002, 6) simply describes it as a “process whereby domestic policy areas become increasingly subject to European policy making.” According to this view, which I shall employ in this paper, Europeanization concerns the process through which European integration penetrates and, in certain circumstances brings about adjustments to, domestic policy systems. For the sake of convenience, I shall concentrate on the Europeanization of the content, structure and style national environmental policy, while recognizing that in practice these aspects of national ‘policy’ are subtly interrelated. Following Hall (1993), policy content can be divided into three different levels. The first relates to the precise setting of policy instruments (e.g. the level of emission standards or taxes, the chemicals included in ‘grey’ and ‘black’ lists, etc.). The second is the instruments or techniques by which policy goals are attained (e.g. direct regulation, fiscal instruments, or voluntary agreements). The third level comprises the overall goals that guide policy. These goals operate within a policy paradigm or a ‘framework of ideas and standards that specifies not only the goals of policy and the kind of instruments that can be used to attain them, but also the very nature of the problems they are meant to be addressing’ (Hall, 1993: 279).

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