Global Communications and National Policies: The View from the EU

Abstract

This chapter discusses whether we are witnessing the return of the notion ‘state’ in communication policies in the European Union (EU). The EU — situated between national states and the broader process of globalisation — is an interesting case and can provide useful insights to the debate. The chapter argues that even in the case of the EU — the strongest regionalism movement there exists, whose policies are binding on its 28 member countries and whose law has precedence over national law — the state is neither necessarily weakened nor strengthened. Rather, European governance is understood in the context of the constant adaptation of the modern state, and associated in particular with the rise of the regulatory state. EU policies are an attempt to help national states respond to and cope with the challenges of the post-war national welfare order. Viewed from this perspective, the main contestation in EU integration is primarily about its character (what kind of Europe) rather than its level (more-or-less Europe). Still, European governance accentuates the problem of govern-mentality since it cannot fully compensate for the loss of the policy-making capacities of the national state.