This chapter examines the process related to policy-making as well as potential determinants of policy choices. It begins with a discussion of conceptual models of policy-making, namely the institutional, rational, incremental, group, elite, and process models. It then considers the policy cycle, which models the policy process as a series of political activities, consisting of agenda setting, policy formulation, policy sadoption, implementation, and evaluation. It also analyses the role of institutions, frames, and policy styles in policy-making and concludes with an assessment of the most crucial domestic and international factors shaping the design of policies, focusing in particular on theories of policy diffusion, policy transfer, and cross-national policy convergence, along with international sources that affect domestic policy-making.
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This chapter examines policies and the patterns of policy making in the European Union (EU). First it surveys the range of EU policy responsibilities, and identifies ways in which policy dynamics differ between them, the most striking difference in policy making relating to the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and its defence affiliate, the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). It then explores the different stages in the EU policy cycle: the passage of policy issues from agenda-setting stage through policy formulation and decision making to the implementation stage and feedback loops. In a final section, it identifies some important policy areas that are worth being aware of but where space precludes chapter-length treatment.
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Alasdair R. Young and Christilla Roederer-Rynning
This chapter examines the European Union’s policy-making process with a comparative perspective. It outlines the stages of the policy-making process (agenda-setting, policy formation, decision-making, implementation, and policy feedback) and considers the prevailing approaches to analysing each of these stages. It also shows how these approaches apply to studying policy-making in the EU. Themes addressed in this chapter include policy-making and the policy cycle, the players in the policy process, executive politics, legislative politics, and judicial politics. The chapter argues that theories rooted in comparative politics and international relations can help elucidate the different phases of the EU’s policy process. It concludes by explaining why policy-making varies across issue areas within the EU.
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Edward Best
This chapter provides an overview of how policy is made in the European Union (EU), focusing on the main procedures involved and the varying roles of the EU institutions. It begins by describing the range of powers that have been given to the EU by the member states in different policy areas, and the multiple modes of governance that are involved. The concept of the policy cycle is used as a framework to explain the stages in EU law-making. The ordinary legislative procedure is presented in some detail, and a case study illustrates the whole cycle from problem definition to implementation. The roles of the institutions in other kinds of policy process are then presented. Policy coordination is explained, with particular attention to economic governance and the European Semester. Finally, the chapter looks at external relations and the common foreign and security policy.
Chapter
Edward Best
This chapter provides an overview of how policy is made in the European Union (EU), focusing on the main procedures involved and the varying roles of the EU institutions. It begins by describing the range of powers that have been given to the EU by the member states in different policy areas, and the multiple modes of governance that are involved. The concept of the policy cycle is used as a framework to explain the stages in EU law-making. The ordinary legislative procedure is presented in some detail, and a case study illustrates the whole cycle from problem definition to implementation. The roles of the institutions in other kinds of policy process are then presented. Policy coordination is explained, with particular attention to economic governance and the European Semester. Finally, the chapter looks at external relations and the common foreign and security policy.
