IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jcmkts/v42y2004i1p23-46.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Future of Sovereignty in Multilevel Governance Europe ‐ A Constructivist Reading

Author

Listed:
  • Tanja E. Aalberts

Abstract

Multilevel governance presents a depiction of contemporary structures in EU Europe as consisting of overlapping authorities and competing competencies. By focusing on emerging non‐anarchical structures in the international system, hence moving beyond the conventional hierarchy/anarchy dichotomy to distinguish domestic and international arenas, this seems a radical transformation of the familiar Westphalian system and to undermine state sovereignty. Paradoxically, however, the principle of sovereignty proves to be resilient despite its alleged empirical decline. This article argues that social constructivism can explain the paradox, by considering sovereign statehood as a process‐dependent institutional fact, and by showing that multilevel governance can feed into this process.

Suggested Citation

  • Tanja E. Aalberts, 2004. "The Future of Sovereignty in Multilevel Governance Europe ‐ A Constructivist Reading," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1), pages 23-46, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:42:y:2004:i:1:p:23-46
    DOI: 10.1111/j.0021-9886.2004.00475.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0021-9886.2004.00475.x
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.0021-9886.2004.00475.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary Marks & Liesbet Hooghe & Kermit Blank, 1995. "European Integration and the State," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers 7, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
    2. Hooghe, Liesbet & Marks, Gary, 2001. "Types of Multi-Level Governance," European Integration online Papers (EIoP), European Community Studies Association Austria (ECSA-A), vol. 5, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jussi Laine, 2013. "Building a Transnational Space for Action," International Studies, , vol. 50(1-2), pages 184-202, January.
    2. Tanja E. Aalberts, 2005. "Sovereignty Reloaded? A Constructivist Perspective on European Research," The Constitutionalism Web-Papers p0010, University of Hamburg, Faculty for Economics and Social Sciences, Department of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Science.
    3. Samsonova-Taddei, Anna & Humphrey, Christopher, 2015. "Risk and the construction of a European audit policy agenda: The case of auditor liability," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 55-72.
    4. Richardson, Alan J., 2009. "Regulatory networks for accounting and auditing standards: A social network analysis of Canadian and international standard-setting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 571-588, July.
    5. Geys, Benny & Konrad, Kai A., . "Federalism and optimal allocation across levels of governance," Chapters in Economics,, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    6. Liisa Laakso, 2005. "Beyond the Notion of Security Community: What Role for the African Regional Organizations in Peace and Security?," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2005-52, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marie-Claude Bélis-Bergouignan & Elie Brugarolas, 2010. "Building research and technology (R&T) transregional networks through an Interreg IIIB project," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(2), pages 135-155, November.
    2. Janthana Kunchornrat & Aumnad Phdungsilp, 2012. "Multi-Level Governance of Low-Carbon Energy Systems in Thailand," Energies, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-14, February.
    3. Fritz Breuss & Markus Eller, 2004. "The Optimal Decentralisation of Government Activity: Normative Recommendations for the European Constitution," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 27-76, March.
    4. Ricard Esparza-Masana, 2022. "Towards Smart Specialisation 2.0. Main Challenges When Updating Strategies," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(1), pages 635-655, March.
    5. Beate Kohler-Koch, 1997. "The European Union Facing Enlargement: Still a System sui generis?," MZES Working Papers 20, MZES.
    6. Kai Jäger, 2017. "Economic Freedom in the Early 21st Century: Government Ideology Still Matters," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(2), pages 256-277, May.
    7. Buijs, Arjen & Kamphorst, Dana & Mattijssen, Thomas & van Dam, Rosalie & Kuindersma, Wiebren & Bouwma, Irene, 2022. "Policy discourses for reconnecting nature with society: The search for societal engagement in Dutch nature conservation policies," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    8. Nilsson, Måns & Nykvist, Björn, 2016. "Governing the electric vehicle transition – Near term interventions to support a green energy economy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 1360-1371.
    9. Gaubatz Kurt Taylor, 2009. "City-State Redux: Rethinking Optimal State Size in an Age of Globalization," New Global Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-24, April.
    10. Rhiannon Pugh, 2018. "Questioning the implementation of smart specialisation: Regional innovation policy and semi-autonomous regions," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(3), pages 530-547, May.
    11. Stewart Macneill & Charlie Jeffery & John Gibney, 2007. "Changing Dynamics of Regional Representation in Brussels: A Case Study of Birmingham and the West Midlands, 1984-2004," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(3), pages 403-414.
    12. Kaiser, Robert & Prange, Heiko, 2002. "A new concept of deepening European integration? The European Research Area and the emerging role of policy coordination in a multi-level governance system," European Integration online Papers (EIoP), European Community Studies Association Austria (ECSA-A), vol. 6, October.
    13. Elissa Waters & Jon Barnett, 2018. "Spatial imaginaries of adaptation governance: A public perspective," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(4), pages 708-725, June.
    14. Tanja E. Aalberts, 2005. "Sovereignty Reloaded? A Constructivist Perspective on European Research," The Constitutionalism Web-Papers p0010, University of Hamburg, Faculty for Economics and Social Sciences, Department of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Science.
    15. Hongtao Yi & Chen Huang & Tao Chen & Xiaolin Xu & Weixing Liu, 2019. "Multilevel Environmental Governance: Vertical and Horizontal Influences in Local Policy Networks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-13, April.
    16. Miren Larrea & Miren Estensoro & Martina Pertoldi, 2019. "Multilevel governance for smart specialisation: basic pillars for its construction," JRC Research Reports JRC116076, Joint Research Centre.
    17. Tamas Fleischer & Peter Futo, 2005. "EU integration mechanisms affecting Hungarian public policies in waste management," IWE Working Papers 153, Institute for World Economics - Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    18. Agustina Labin & Alejandra Taborda, 2017. "Relationship between the Socioeconomicsocio-Educational Context and Thecognitive Performance from WISC-IV Indexes," European Journal of Social Sciences Education and Research Articles, Revistia Research and Publishing, vol. 4, September.
    19. Schmidt, Susanne K., 1996. "Sterile debates and dubious generalisations: An empirical critique of European integration theory based on the integration processes in telecommunications and electricity," MPIfG Discussion Paper 96/5, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    20. Poku-Boansi, Michael & Marsden, Greg, 2018. "Bus rapid transit systems as a governance reform project," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 193-202.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:42:y:2004:i:1:p:23-46. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0021-9886 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.