"Policy networks and complex interactions in the European Union: Environmental policy in Spain"

Bukowski, Jeanie. (1997) "Policy networks and complex interactions in the European Union: Environmental policy in Spain". In: UNSPECIFIED, Seattle, WA. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This paper address governance and decision-making in the European Union. It takes a multi-level governance perspective; that is, it assumes that governing authority is diffused across levels (supranational, national and subnational) within the European Union. Units within this emerging structure increasingly share resources, interests and influence over policy decisions. Similar to what Grodzins recognized in his "marble cake" conceptualization of the American federal system, the emerging decision-making structure in the EU is fragmented and characterized by "many overlapping governments (and I would argue non-governmental actors) involved in many overlapping functions" and by multiple points of access to decision-making processes (1966: 25). Policy network analysis is a realistic tool for analyzing the complexity of interactions within the multi-level structure of this evidence. This study 1) establishes policy network analysis as a tool within the multi-level governance framework; 2) provides preliminary empirical evidence within the structure of policy network analysis through an investigation of environmental policy in Spain; and 3) discusses the theoretical implications of this evidence.

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