This book is concerned above all with the adaptation of national EU policy-making processes to the demands and opportunities of EU membership. As such the study lends itself to the burgeoning ‘Europeanisation’ literature which refocuses the attention of European studies downwards to the domestic level. Rather than provide an exhaustive review of this literature, this chapter explores the conceptual challenge posed by Europeanisation for our study. How does the current literature relate to the Europeanisation of national policy-making processes? How can it help to explain strategic adaptation for the purpose of enhancing the coordination and projection of national EU policy?...

This book is concerned with the changing nature of the European policy-making process within central government. How we define and conceptualise government will serve as the foundation for the analytical framework that we employ because it determines the legitimate focus and scope of analysis and conditions the nature of the analytical toolbox that we utilise. It also necessitates making certain assumptions regarding the relationship between structure and agency, the nature of institutional change and individual behaviour, and the nature, location and distribution of power within government.

The preceding chapter set out to develop a new strategic-projection model of Europeanisation in...

In order to begin to explore the nature of change within the UK and Irish policy-making processes between 1997 and 2007, it is necessary to map the boundaries of the policy network that existed within government for the purpose of coordinating and projecting national EU policy. The chapter therefore begins by outlining the nature of the common strategic agenda around which strategic players have been recruited to the EU network. It provides a historical overview of the formation of the two networks and how they have expanded over time in response to the intermittent growth of EU competence.

Having mapped...

In this chapter we move beyond relatively static and unchanging formal codes of conduct by exploring the more fluid and dynamic ‘vertical’ dimension of networking: the redistribution of strategic resources between network players. At a general level, the basic relationship that exists across both EU networks remained relatively stable since formation. Departmental players rely upon network managers to: distil their preferences into a single negotiating position (the Cabinet Office/DFA); for EU expertise and lobbying activity in other member states (the FCO/DFA); for direct access to Brussels (UKRep/PRI); for sources of funding (the Treasury/Department of Finance); and for strategic direction (PMO-Cabinet...

Mechanisms of coordination refer to those ‘horizontal’ processes that embed strategic networking in regularized practices, facilitate and structure interaction, and create relationships of mutual interdependency. They include formal structures of decision making and coordination (such as standing committees), as well as informal processes of consultation and communication (for example through ad hoc meetings, circulation lists or correspondence). Within the EU network, these mechanisms are critical for coordinating policy across departmental boundaries. The chapter begins by providing an overview of horizontal networking within the EU network immediately after accession in 1973 and how it evolved through to 1997. It then explores...

Here we seek to take the analysis of change within national policy-making processes a stage further by addressing the second research question: how can we evaluate the impact of adaptation on the capacity of the UK and Irish governments to coordinate and project national European policy? The chapter aims to compare and critically evaluate the relative strengths and weaknesses of the reform strategies pursed by the Blair and Ahern governments by analysing the capacity of the UK and Irish networks to coordinate EU policy, and by assessing the extent to which this changed after 1997. Using the simplified Guttman scale...

Having considered the nature and effectiveness of network adaptation under the Blair and Ahern governments in detail, this final chapter sets out to reconnect these important empirical and comparative insights with the wider conceptual debate about the impact of EU membership at the national level. It employs the innovative strategic-projection model of Europeanisation outlined in Chapter 3 to address the third research question: to what extent can we attribute strategic adaptation in the UK and Ireland to wider domestic reform processes or to developments at the EU level? In other words, do the changes outlined in this study simply reflect...

The concluding chapter is divided into four sections. The first section reprises the key research findings from the study with reference to the three key research questions set out in the introduction. The second reflects on the distinctive conceptual and analytical frameworks that have been employed, considers the value that they add to existing studies in the field, and addresses the potential weaknesses that have become apparent during the course of the study. Third, the chapter draws upon comparative insights from similar research in other EU member states, enabling us to speculate about the generalisability of the findings presented here....