IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jcmkts/v47y2009i4p719-740.html

The EU Comitology System: Intergovernmental Bargaining and Deliberative Supranationalism?

Author

Listed:
  • JENS BLOM‐HANSEN
  • GIJS JAN BRANDSMA

Abstract

Two images exist of the day‐to‐day practice of the EU comitology system. The first claims that comitology is deliberation by policy experts in which informal norms, deliberation and good arguments matter more than economic interests and formal voting rules. The second image portrays comitology as an arena for intergovernmental bargaining designed by the Member States to control the Commission. The article systematically investigates these images based on survey evidence from a questionnaire to the Danish and Dutch national representatives on nearly all comitology committees in 2006. The evidence suggests that both images hold and that their relative importance is determined by the nature of the issues dealt with by the individual comitology committees.

Suggested Citation

  • Jens Blom‐Hansen & Gijs Jan Brandsma, 2009. "The EU Comitology System: Intergovernmental Bargaining and Deliberative Supranationalism?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 719-740, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:47:y:2009:i:4:p:719-740
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-5965.2009.02002.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5965.2009.02002.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1468-5965.2009.02002.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. Ballmann, Alexander & Epstein, David & O'Halloran, Sharyn, 2002. "Delegation, Comitology, and the Separation of Powers in the European Union," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(3), pages 551-574, July.
    2. Jürgen Neyer, 2003. "Discourse and Order in the EU," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(4), pages 687-706, September.
    3. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:41:y:2003:i::p:687-706 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Putnam, Robert D., 1988. "Diplomacy and domestic politics: the logic of two-level games," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(3), pages 427-460, July.
    5. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:44:y:2006:i::p:779-802 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Steunenberg, Bernard & Koboldt, Christian & Schmidtchen, Dieter, 1996. "Policymaking, comitology, and the balance of power in the European Union," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 329-344, September.
    7. Christian Joerges, 2006. "‘Deliberative Political Processes’ Revisited: What Have we Learnt About the Legitimacy of Supranational Decision‐Making," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(4), pages 779-802, November.
    8. Mark A. Pollack, 2001. "International Relations Theory and European Integration," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(2), pages 221-244, June.
    9. Jeffrey Lewis, 1998. "Is the ‘Hard Bargaining’ Image of the Council Misleading? The Committee of Permanent Representatives and the Local Elections Directive," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 479-504, December.
    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. Field, Mark, 2013. "The anatomy of EU policy-making: Appointing the experts," European Integration online Papers (EIoP), European Community Studies Association Austria (ECSA-A), vol. 17, July.
    2. Christoph Klika, 2015. "The Implementation of the REACH Authorisation Procedure on Chemical Substances of Concern: What Kind of Legitimacy?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 3(1), pages 128-138.
    3. Reini Schrama, 2023. "Expert network interaction in the European Medicines Agency," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), pages 491-511, April.

    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. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:47:y:2009:i::p:719-740 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:48:y:2010:i::p:557-578 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Diana Panke & Gurur Polat & Franziska Hohlstein, 2021. "Satisfied or not? Exploring the interplay of individual, country and international organization characteristics for negotiation success," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 403-429, April.
    4. Andreas Dür & Gemma Mateo, 2010. "Bargaining Power and Negotiation Tactics: The Negotiations on the EU's Financial Perspective, 2007–13," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 557-578, June.
    5. Ethan B Kapstein, 2006. "Architects of stability? International cooperation among financial supervisors," BIS Working Papers 199, Bank for International Settlements.
    6. Simon Hug & Tobias Schulz, 2007. "Referendums in the EU’s constitution building process," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 2(2), pages 177-218, June.
    7. Heike Schroeder, 2010. "Agency in international climate negotiations: the case of indigenous peoples and avoided deforestation," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 317-332, December.
    8. Koichi Hamada & Asahi Noguchi, 2005. "The Role of Preconceived Ideas in Macroeconomic Policy: Japan's Experiences in the Two Deflationary Periods," Working Papers 908, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    9. Annie Young Song, 2023. "Beyond intergovernmental cooperation: domestic politics of transboundary air pollution in Korea and Singapore," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 397-413, December.
    10. Gonzalo Escribano, 2006. "Europeanisation without Europe? The Mediterranean and the Neighbourhood Policy," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers 19, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
    11. Yannis Papadopoulos, 2018. "How does knowledge circulate in a regulatory network? Observing a European Platform of Regulatory Authorities meeting," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(4), pages 431-450, December.
    12. Gerald Schneider & Daniel Finke & Stefanie Bailer, 2010. "Bargaining Power in the European Union: An Evaluation of Competing Game‐Theoretic Models," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 58(1), pages 85-103, February.
    13. Jeffry Frieden & Stefanie Walter, 2019. "Analyzing inter-state negotiations in the Eurozone crisis and beyond," European Union Politics, , vol. 20(1), pages 134-151, March.
    14. Helpman, E., 1995. "Politics and Trade Policy," Papers 30-95, Tel Aviv - the Sackler Institute of Economic Studies.
    15. Kathryn M.E. Dominguez, 1993. "The Role of International Organizations in the Bretton Woods System," NBER Chapters, in: A Retrospective on the Bretton Woods System: Lessons for International Monetary Reform, pages 357-404, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Jasper Krommendijk, 2015. "The domestic effectiveness of international human rights monitoring in established democracies. The case of the UN human rights treaty bodies," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 489-512, December.
    17. Conconi, Paola & Sahuguet, Nicolas & Zanardi, Maurizio, 2018. "Electoral incentives, term limits, and the sustainability of peace," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 15-26.
    18. Lindsey Doyle & Lukas Hegele, 2021. "Talks before the talks: Effects of pre-negotiation on reaching peace agreements in intrastate armed conflicts, 2005–15," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 58(2), pages 231-247, March.
    19. Fritz W. Scharpf, 1991. "Games Real Actors Could Play: The Challenge of Complexity," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 3(3), pages 277-304, July.
    20. Jeroen Warner & Neda Zawahri, 2012. "Hegemony and asymmetry: multiple-chessboard games on transboundary rivers," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 215-229, September.
    21. Mariateresa Fiocca, 2001. "Mediterraneo e Balcani: Due Aree di Crisi e di Opportunità alla periferia dell'unione Europea," ISAE Working Papers 19, ISTAT - Italian National Institute of Statistics - (Rome, ITALY).
    22. Yuxuan Lei, 2025. "The Role of Political Actors’ Preference Variation in the Decision-Making Process of the European Union," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-31, March.

    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:47:y:2009:i:4:p:719-740. 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.