Bulletin n. 1/2017 | ||
June 2017 | ||
Risse Thomas |
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De-centring the European union: policy diffusion among European regional organizations – a comment | ||
in European Review of History - Revue Européene d'Histoire , Volume 24, Issue 3 , 2017 , pp. 472-483 | ||
This article comments on the special issue from a political science perspective. It starts with an attempt at interpreting the contributions from a diffusion perspective. The articles show a sophisticated understanding of diffusion as “interdependent decision-making”, that is multi- rather than uni-directional, focuses on diffusion as a process (not an outcome), and takes a decidedly agency-centered view. The article then highlights some of the empirical findings in this special issue. This concerns, among others, the crucial role of the Council of Europe (CoE) as a laboratory for generating new policy ideas and an agenda-setter, as well as the equally important function of the various parliamentary assemblies as mechanisms by which policy ideas diffuse. At the same time, there is also a power story in this special issue. The EC ultimately dominates the processes in most policy areas. The article concludes with remarks on the fruitfulness of an interdisciplinary dialogue between historians and social scientists as documented by this special issue. | ||