Bringing History Back In To the Study of Transnational Networks in European Integration

Abstract

This article discusses the results of recent historical research on the governance of networks and their impact on policy-making in the formative period of the EU. It concludes that historically aware research on networks in EU governance has great potential. In particular, in can contribute to enhancing our knowledge about the formation and dynamics of networks; conceptualising the role of supranational institutions such as the Commission in instigating network formation and steering new networks; and improving our understanding of change over time in the governance of networks and their policy impact in the EU.

The drivers of regulatory networking: policy learning between homophily and convergence

“…The mere existence of semi-formalised frameworks of cooperation, such as European Regulatory Networks, offers no insight into the drivers of informal bilateral ties among regulators. Yet, the importance of transgovernmental networking for the shaping of EU energy policy, in particular, can hardly be overlooked (Eberlein 2008;Kaiser 2009). …”

Parties, People, and Parliament: Britain’s “Ombudsman” and the Politics of the 1960s

“…8 The transnational context, recently the subject of so much historiographical innovation, will also be emphasized in a manner that has not been so clear in earlier works – for most of the key concepts underpinning the idea of the Ombudsman were foreign imports. 9…”