Balancing Institutional Power in European Policymaking

New approach and practical guidance for assessing the feasibility of policies or institutional reforms and the resilience of the EU.

This book will be of primary importance for students and scholars of European studies, comparative federalism and multilevel governance. Arthur Benz and Adrienne Héritier also offer practical insights for political actors and policy practitioners when assessing the feasibility of policies and institutional reforms.Since the European Union (EU) has been confronted with multiple crises, scholars have debated the consequences from the viewpoints of integration, disintegration, and differentiated integration. This book takes a different perspective. Rather than focusing on macro-structures, it highlights the ongoing contestation and balancing of power in everyday policymaking. These processes lead to incremental, often hidden informal institutional change rather than overall Treaty amendments. They unfold in European legislation under the Community method, in intergovernmental politics, administrative policymaking, and court proceedings, and often link all these venues. The book analyses and empirically describes different conflicts, strategies, and processes through which actors respond to power imbalances in policymaking and seek to reshape the rules and patterns of interaction. The authors argue that this enduring balancing of power is essential to the EU's resilience, as it compels actors to respond to challenges and find institutional solutions, particularly in a fast-changing international order.