Europeanization and multi-level governance: Empirical findings and conceptual challenges

This paper draws on material from a recently-published book that considers the extent to which Europeanization advances multi-level governance within member states and, if so, of what type(s), and through what processes. The empirical focus is on EU cohesion policy and particularly the domestic impact of the requirements of partnership, programming and regionalization. The main case study is Britain, a member state whose political system has been increasingly characterized by multi-level governance in the period of EU membership. The British case is analyzed in relation to developments across the EU. Thus, the main purpose is to establish whether EU cohesion policy has promoted multi-level governance in Britain and other member states and, therefore, to assess whether any identified governance change can be characterized as a process of Europeanization. In developing the comparative analysis, a distinction is drawn between EU effects in ‘compound’ and ‘simple’ polities.