The European Commission - A successful institutional gardener? (ePub)

Seminar paper from the year 2001 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: 1,7, Leiden University, course: European Integration: Politics and Policy, language: English, abstract: The present research paper tries to assess the strategies of the Commission's White Paper on European Governance (2001) in the light of the criteria for successful institutional reform developed by Johan P. Olsen in his paper "How, then, does one get there?" (2000).
In this theoretical perspective, reformers in the EU must act as institutional gardeners and try to exploit European arenas of interaction to influence the attitudes and identities of the other actors.
The Commission seems to be well aware of the fact that reform efforts by political leaders alone cannot ensure specific institutional changes. It tries to ensure the support and resources of the other institutions, citizens, subnational actors, civil society etc. Furthermore, the initiation of a public debate is an important factor for the emergence of common beliefs and identities and the creation of support.
But still it remains questionable if the Commission can act as a patient institutional gardener and realize a smooth reform of the EU by incremental adaptation because reform of the EU is really urgent by now and existing identities and traditions might not be changed quickly enough.
The paper briefly introduces Olsen's strategies before analyzing several aspects of the Commission's White Paper on European Governance. The conclusion is an attempt to develop an overall assessment of the Commission's chances of success.