How bureaucratic élites imagine Europe: towards convergence of governance beliefs?

The origin of EU authority in criminal matters: a sociology of legal experts in European policy-making

“…They all claimed to value 'interpersonal skills', 'diplomatic imperatives' and the ability to 'go beyond national practices'. In their opinion, this shared 'technocratic mentality' (Radaelli and O'Connor 2009) enabled them to stand out clearly from the actors who remained at the national level.…”

Q Methodology as a Tool for Committee Governance Research

“…(Quaglia et al 2008: 160) Research designs generally seek to trace the policy-making process, identifying core preferences and motivations of bureaucrats and suggesting that these identities correlate with bureaucrat behaviour. These studies employ qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches, more often than not drawing on both elite interviews and survey data (see for example : Checkel 2003;Dierickx and Beyers 1999;Egeberg 1999;Egeberg et al 2003;Fouilleux et al 2005;Gornitzka and Sverdrup 2008;Hooghe 2005;Lewis 2005;Radaelli and O'Connor 2009;Trondal 2007b;Trondal and Jeppesen 2008). It is now evident that surveys and semi-structured interviews are the predominant mechanisms of measuring core bureaucrat perceptions or attachments within committee governance research.…”

“…In the Likert scale, respondents are asked to indicate their degree of attachment to certain statements. These responses are then collated, generating a score to represent the individual's attitude or perceptions (see Beyers 2005;Beyers and Trondal 2004;Radaelli and O'Connor 2009;Trondal 2002;Trondal and Veggeland 2003). In the semantic differential method, the respondent aligns his or her position on a statement on a scale between two bipolar adjectives.…”

National culture trumps EU socialization: the European central bankers’ views of the euro crisis

“…On the one hand, a crisis may lead politicians to retract some of the autonomy of the ECB governors, but on the other hand it is also likely to increase the frequency and intensity with which the latter interact. At the individual level, crises may provide opportunities for ideational change, but may also cause individuals to adhere more closely to their pre-existing ideas and prioritize primary sources of identification (Radaelli and O'Connor 2009).…”

“…Bearce and Bondanella 2007;Radaelli and O'Connor 2009). To determine these specific national features, it is imperative to study the history of central bank independence, as well as the domestic political and economic cultures of the governors.…”