An Incremental Odyssey: The Structural Europeanisation of Government Bureaucracy

Abstract

For over a quarter of a century departments of central government in the United Kingdom have faced a number of challenges stemming from UK membership of the European Union (EU), previously the European Community (EC). In effect, UK government bureaucracy, as with that of other member states, has undergone adaptation processes of various sorts as it has sought to accommodate demands springing from an essentially supranational body. Thus, as the UK plays a role in EC/EU policy and decision-making, so various parts of Whitehall have undergone Europeanising processes whereby the structure, working practices and policy-related functions of departments are impacted upon as they seek to accommodate and assimilate the ever-encroaching effects of the European