Pattern and Extent of EU Involvement in Public Administrations: How to Describe and Explain in the European Administrative Space

Heidbreder, Eva G. (2011) Pattern and Extent of EU Involvement in Public Administrations: How to Describe and Explain in the European Administrative Space. UNSPECIFIED. (Submitted)

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Abstract

This paper claims that public administrations are central players in the policy process. Hence, the control over and organization of civil services represent core state powers. The puzzles that emerge are therefore: which administrative system underpins supranational policy-making; and which consequences does participation in the European Administrative Space entail for the autonomy of national bureaucracies? I confront the theoretical challenge, namely the analytical description for the EAS, proposing a policy-centered approach that captures the EAS along the four dimensions administrative tasks, authority, instruments, and actor constellations. The empirical challenge is how to measure a supranational impact on national civil services. Drawing on a complementary view of political and administrative action in public administration research, a set of variables is applied to the EAS and the German national bureaucracy. The results show that not only the EAS but also the participation of the German administration herein increase the distance between the political and administrative realm but, at the same, also reduce drastically the ability of administrations to mitigate between the policy process, politics, and citizens.

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