Decision-Making in the European Union – Or, the Meticulous Design of Power Dispersion

  • Yannis Karagiannis Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18543/ced-55-2016pp119-143
Keywords: European Union, decision-making, legislative process, spatial models, power dispersion

Abstract

How does the European Union («EU ») make decisions? Is power concentrated or dispersed? Who should those interested in EU legislative affairs observe or try to influence? To answer these questions this article reviews the main legislative procedures of the EU using a standard rational choice approach. It does so by looking at both inter-institutional politics between the Commission, the Council, and the Parliament, and intra-institutional politics within each of these institutions. I make three main arguments, two positive and one negative. On the positive side (a) it can be shown that the EU is characterized by a calculated dispersion of power; and (b) despite its limitations, the rational choice approach to decision making analysis does a satisfactory job in explaining EU procedures, including when some actors’ decisions seem a priori irrational. On the negative side, the dispersion of power which characterizes the EU makes popular heuristic theories such as principal-agent inappropriate.

Received: 19 May 2016
Accepted: 22 June 2016
Published online: 31 October 2016

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
Published
2016-10-31
How to Cite
Karagiannis, Yannis. 2016. “Decision-Making in the European Union – Or, the Meticulous Design of Power Dispersion”. Deusto Journal of European Studies, no. 55 (October), 119-43. https://doi.org/10.18543/ced-55-2016pp119-143.
Issue
No. 55 (2016): Proceso político de la UE: fases, actores, procesos y eficiencia en el proceso de integración de la UE
Section
Articles

The author grants to the Publisher the distribution, public communication, and reproduction rights of her/his work subject of publication in Deusto Journal of European Studies (DJES), whichever the media may be, including the permission to include it in the databases where this Journal is indexed and in the institutional repository of the Universidad de Deusto.

Upon its publication, the content of any Issue of Deusto Journal of European Studies (DJES) can be accessed, read, downloaded, copies, and distributed freely for non-commercial purposes and in accordance with any applicable copyright legislation.

The content of Deusto Journal of European Studies (DJES) can be subsequently published in other media or journals, as long as the author clearly indicates in the first footnote that the work was published in Deusto Journal of European Studies (DJES) for the first time, indicating the Issue number, year, pages, and DOI (if applicable). Any other use of its content in any medium or format, now known or developed in the future, requires prior written permission of the copyright holder.

The content of the work published in Deusto Journal of European Studies (DJES) is each author's sole responsibility. The authors assume the responsibility of obtaining all the necessary licenses for the reproduction in their manuscripts of any text, material or illustration coming from another author, institution or publication. The liabilities that may arise from complaints for publishing plagiarised articles are the sole responsibility of the author.