Abstract
The evolution of the inter-institutional balance of powers has been a constant feature of the European integration process. Therefore, this thematic issue reopens these theoretical and empirical discussions by looking at an underexploited angle of research, namely the impact of rule change on policy outputs. We offer a discussion on how to theorise rule change, actors’ behaviour, and their impact on policy outputs. We also examine the links between theory and methods, noting the strengths and weaknesses of different methods for the study of institutional and policy change. We draw on the contributions of this thematic issue to delineate further paths to push forward the current frontiers in EU decision-making research.
Highlights
The evolution of the inter‐institutional balance of pow‐ ers has been a constant feature of the European integra‐ tion process
Politics and Governance, 2021, Volume 9, Issue 3, Pages 1–4 ies have assessed the consequences of rule change for the inter‐institutional balance of power (e.g., Farrell & Héritier, 2003; Kreppel, 2018), the question of how rule change affects policy outputs has barely been touched upon
Existing research has focused on a limited pool of policy areas and concentrated on the role of the EP (Bressanelli & Chelotti, 2018; Burns et al, 2013; Ripoll Servent, 2015) and the rising powers of the European Council (Bickerton et al, 2015)
Summary
The evolution of the inter‐institutional balance of pow‐ ers has been a constant feature of the European integra‐ tion process. The debate on ‘who wins, who loses’ is at a crossroads: On the one hand, the EU supranational institutions (the Commission, the European Parliament [EP], and the European Court of Justice) have been rein‐ forced in successive constitutional treaties (Dehousse, 2011); on the other hand, the successive crises, which have affected policy areas close to the sovereignty of member states, have reinforced the role of executives and favoured non‐legislative forms of decision‐making (Puetter, 2014) This thematic issue reopens the theoret‐ ical and empirical discussions about inter‐institutional power dynamics in EU decision‐making by looking at an underexploited angle of research, namely the impact of rule change on policy outputs. We draw on the contribu‐ tions of this thematic issue to delineate further paths to push forward the current frontiers in EU decision‐ making research
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