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Legislative Gridlock and Bureaucratic Politics in the European Union

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  • Junge, Dirk
  • König, Thomas
  • Luig, Bernd

Abstract

How does the risk of gridlock affect the type of legislative output? Do bureaucratic agents expand their activities when they can expect that the principals are unable to overrule them? This article introduces a novel approach for calculating the risk of gridlock in bicameral legislatures in order to estimate its impact on bureaucratic activities, combining data on all secondary and tertiary acts of the European Union (EU) from 1983 to 2009. The findings reveal that bureaucratic activities expand when the risk of gridlock increases and an overruling of tertiary acts becomes less likely. This may sustain the EU's overall decision-making productivity, but its bureaucratic nature may raise further questions about democratic legitimacy and principal-agent problems in the representation of interests.

Suggested Citation

  • Junge, Dirk & König, Thomas & Luig, Bernd, 2015. "Legislative Gridlock and Bureaucratic Politics in the European Union," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(4), pages 777-797, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:bjposi:v:45:y:2015:i:04:p:777-797_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Thomas König & Bernd Luig, 2017. "The impact of EU decision-making on national parties’ attitudes towards European integration," European Union Politics, , vol. 18(3), pages 362-381, September.
    2. Serra Boranbay-Akan & Thomas König & Moritz Osnabrügge, 2017. "The imperfect agenda-setter: Why do legislative proposals fail in the EU decision-making process?," European Union Politics, , vol. 18(2), pages 168-187, June.
    3. Amichai Magen, 2016. "Cracks in the Foundations: Understanding the Great Rule of Law Debate in the EU," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(5), pages 1050-1061, September.
    4. Tanja A. Börzel, 2016. "From EU Governance of Crisis to Crisis of EU Governance: Regulatory Failure, Redistributive Conflict and Eurosceptic Publics," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54, pages 8-31, September.
    5. Jørgen Bølstad & James P. Cross, 2016. "Not all Treaties are Created Equal: The Effects of Treaty Changes on Legislative Efficiency in the EU," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 793-808, July.
    6. Steffen Hurka & Maximilian Haag, 2020. "Policy complexity and legislative duration in the European Union," European Union Politics, , vol. 21(1), pages 87-108, March.
    7. Jens Blom-Hansen, 2019. "Studying power and influence in the European Union: Exploiting the complexity of post-Lisbon legislation with EUR-Lex," European Union Politics, , vol. 20(4), pages 692-706, December.
    8. Steffen Hurka & Yves Steinebach, 2021. "Legal Instrument Choice in the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(2), pages 278-296, March.

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