Agenda-Setting in the European Union PDF
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Agenda-Setting in the European Union Sebastiaan Princen Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics Edited by: Michelle Egan, American University, USA, Neill Nugent, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, William Paterson, University of Birmingham, UK Editorial Board: Christopher Hill, Cambridge, UK, Simon Hix, London School of Economics, UK, Mark Pollack, Temple University, USA, Kalypso Nicolaïdis, Oxford, UK, Morten Egeberg, University of Oslo, Norway, Amy Verdun, University of Victoria, Canada, Claudio M. Radaelli, University of Exeter, UK, Frank Schimmelfennig, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland Following on the sustained success of the acclaimed European Union Series, which essentially publishes research-based textbooks, Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics publishes cutting edge research-driven monographs. The remit of the series is broadly defined, both in terms of subject and academic discipline. All topics of significance concerning the nature and operation of the European Union potentially fall within the scope of the series. The series is multidisciplinary to reflect the growing importance of the EU as a political, economic and social phenomenon. We will welcome submissions from the areas of political studies, international relations, political economy, public and social policy, economics, law and sociology. Titles include: Ian Bache and Andrew Jordan (editors) THE EUROPEANIZATION OF BRITISH POLITICS Richard Balme and Brian Bridges (editors) EUROPE-ASIA RELATIONS Building Multilateralisms Thierry Balzacq (editor) THE EXTERNAL DIMENSION OF EU JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS Governance, Neighbours, Security Michael Baun and Dan Marek (editors) EU COHESION POLICY AFTER ENLARGEMENT Milena Büchs NEW GOVERNANCE IN EUROPEAN SOCIAL POLICY The Open Method of Coordination Kevin Featherstone and Dimitris Papadimitriou THE LIMITS OF EUROPEANIZATION Reform Capacity and Policy Conflict in Greece Stefan Gänzle and Allen G. Sens (editors) THE CHANGING POLITICS OF EUROPEAN SECURITY Europe Alone? Heather Grabbe THE EU’S TRANSFORMATIVE POWER Sebastian Krapohl RISK REGULATION IN THE SINGLE MARKET The Governance of Pharmaceuticals and Foodstuffs in the European Union Katie Verlin Laatikainen and Karen E. Smith (editors) THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE UNITED NATIONS Intersecting Multilateralisms Ingo Linsenmann, Christoph O. Meyer and Wolfgang T. Wessels (editors) ECONOMIC GOVERNMENT OF THE EU A Balance Sheet of New Modes of Policy Coordination Philomena Murray (editor) EUROPE AND ASIA Regions in Flux Daniel Naurin and Helen Wallace (editors) UNVEILING THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION Games Governments Play in Brussels David Phinnemore and Alex Warleigh-Lack REFLECTIONS ON EUROPEAN INTEGRATION 50 Years of the Treaty of Rome Sebastiaan Princen AGENDA-SETTING IN THE EUROPEAN UNION Angelos Sepos THE EUROPEANIZATION OF CYPRUS Polity, Policies and Politics Marc Weller, Denika Blacklock and Katherine Nobbs (editors) THE PROTECTION OF THE MINORITIES IN THE WIDER EUROPE Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics Series Standing Order ISBN 978-1-4039-9511-7 (hardback) and ISBN 978-1-4039-9512-4 (paperback) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and one of the ISBNs quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21, UK Agenda-Setting in the European Union Sebastiaan Princen Associate Professor, School of Governance, Utrecht University, the Netherlands © Sebastiaan Princen 2009 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-22053-9 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-30604-6 ISBN 978-0-230-23396-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230233966 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 Contents List of Figures vii List of Tables viii Preface ix 1 Studying Policy Agendas in the EU 1 1.1 The challenge of agenda-setting 1 1.2 Why study EU agenda-setting? 3 1.3 Three central themes 8 1.4 The main argument 15 1.5 Plan of this book 16 2 Understanding Agenda-Setting Dynamics 19 2.1 What are policy agendas? 19 2.2 Two perspectives on issue formation 23 2.3 Agenda-setting in domestic politics: Conflict expansion, framing and institutions 31 2.4 Agenda-setting dynamics in the EU 36 2.5 Factors and processes in EU agenda-setting 42 3 Assessing Agendas and Agenda Dynamics 44 3.1 The choice of health and environmental policies 44 3.2 Assessing agendas 47 3.3 Case studies: Selection and design 53 3.4 From methods to empirics 56 4 The Evolution of EU Policy Agendas in Comparative Perspective 57 4.1 Charting the development of EU agendas 57 4.2 Overall attention for health and environmental issues 60 4.3 Environmental issues in the EU and the US 62 v vi Contents 4.4 Health issues in the EU and the US 69 4.5 Explaining EU receptiveness to health and environmental issues 76 5 Starting from Scratch: Moving New Issues onto the EU Agenda 80 5.1 The rise of public health issues on the EU agenda 80 5.2 Anti-smoking policy in the EU 82 5.3 Alcoholism policy in the EU 90 5.4 The dynamics of agenda expansion in EU health policy 98 6 A Bridge Too Far? The Limits of EU Agenda Expansion 102 6.1 Health care issues on the EU agenda 102 6.2 Health care systems and the reform debate in Europe 104 6.3 The EU and the reform of health systems 110 6.4 The limits of agenda expansion in EU health policy 123 7 Changing the Tune: Agenda-Setting Dynamics around Recurring Policy Issues 127 7.1 EU fisheries policy as a recurring issue 127 7.2 The creation of a CFP 129 7.3 ‘Greening’ the CFP 136 7.4 Agenda change in EU fisheries policy 147 8 Reflections on EU Agenda-Setting 151 8.1 Understanding the rise of issues on the EU agenda 151 8.2 Agenda-setting and policymaking in the EU 156 8.3 Agenda-setting and European integration 159 8.4 Bias and responsiveness in EU policy agendas 163 Annex 1: List of Interviews 169 Annex 2: Policy Agendas Topics Coding Scheme 171 Notes 174 References 176 Index 195 Figures 2.1 A theoretical model of agenda-setting 36 2.2 Theoretical framework for explaining EU agenda-setting 43 4.1 Health-related and environment-related documents as a percentage of all documents in the EU 60 4.2 Health-related and environment-related documents as a percentage of all documents in the US 61 4.3 Types of issues under ‘species and forest protection’ in the EU 64 4.4 Normalized entropy scores for environmental issues in the five types of documents over the whole period studied 65 4.5 Normalized entropy scores for environmental issues in the five types of document over time 66 4.6 Documents relating to chemicals and toxic waste as a percentage of all environment-related documents over time 67 4.7 Documents relating to species and forest protection as a percentage of all environment-related documents over time 68 4.8 Normalized entropy scores for health issues in the five types of document 72 4.9 Documents relating to health organization and financing as a percentage of all health-related documents over time 74 4.10 D ocuments relating to diseases and medicines as a percentage of all health-related documents over time 75 4.11 Documents relating to addictive substances as a percentage of all health-related documents over time 76 7.1 COM documents on fisheries as a percentage of all COM documents from 1975 to 2005 128 8.1 Three steps in the formation of the EU political agenda 156 vii Tables 4.1 Ranking of environmental subtopics in the five types of document over the whole period studied 63 4.2 Ranking of five broad health issue categories in the five types of document over the whole period studied 70 4.3 Top three specific health subtopics in the five types of document over the whole period studied 71 viii Preface This book is the outcome of a research project which began when I became a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Governance, Utrecht University, in November 2002. Completing a project and a book over such a period of time owes a lot to the support and encouragement from the people with whom you work. First, I would like to thank Mark Bovens and Deirdre Curtin at the School of Governance for the oppor- tunity that they gave me to develop this research project and carry it out. The stimulating intellectual climate they have created at the School and the sustained organizational support they gave me in doing the project have been invaluable. Without them, this book would not have been written. While doing the research for this book I received generous help from Frank Baumgartner and Bryan Jones, whose theoretical and methodo- logical work has been an important source of inspiration for this study. Frank Baumgartner visited Utrecht early on in the project to discuss the application of the policy agendas coding scheme to the EU. In spring 2007, I had the privilege of spending four months at Bryan Jones’ Center for American Politics and Public Policy (CAPPP) at the University of Washington, Seattle. Chapter 4 is the direct result of that visit, but in a broader sense it provided an important push towards the completion of this book. In addition, other researchers in the policy agendas network which has developed over the past years have lent their support to my project, answering questions and reading draft texts. I owe special thanks in this regard to Christoffer Green-Pedersen at the University of Aarhus, and John Wilkerson at the University of Washington. For specific questions about the application of the topics coding scheme, I could also rely on the advice from Ashley Watson and Michelle Wolf. The coding of EU documents that forms the basis of Chapter 4 was carried out by Karin van Boetzelaer and Linda Haans, who worked as student assistants on this project during 2005. Systematic, conscien- tious and forward-thinking, their work has been crucial for generating a high-quality dataset. Parts of this book have been presented as papers at conferences and meetings over the years. The comments and suggestions from ix
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