Bureaucratic autonomy and the European Commission : Europe's custodians / / Antonis A. Ellinas, Ezra [[electronic resource]]

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910779150603321
• Autore: Ellinas Antonis A. <1975->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2012
• ISBN: 1-139-36643-2; 1-107-23183-3; 1-280-64772-8; 9786613633774; 1-139-37902-X; 1-139-15087-1; 1-139-37616-0; 1-139-37759-0; 1-139-37217-3; 1-139-38045-1
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (xiii, 237 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)
• Classificazione: POL040000
• Disciplina: 341.242/2
• Soggetti: Bureaucracy - European Union countries
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p.215-232) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: 1. Introduction -- 2. The autonomy of national and transnational bureaucracies -- 3. Surveying top European bureaucrats -- 4. Autonomy at the top of the European bureaucracy -- 5. Political attempts to alter bureaucratic behavior -- 6. Cultural impediments to political control -- 7. Custodians of 'Europe' -- 8. Bureaucratic attitudes toward controversial policies -- 9. Conclusion -- Appendix A: Distribution of sample by Directorate-General or service -- Appendix B: Contact of European bureaucrats with the European Parliament.
• Sommario/riassunto: This book examines the struggle of the European Union bureaucracy to maintain its autonomy in an increasingly complex institutional setting and adverse political environment. Using an original survey of nearly two hundred top European Commission officials, it shows that the Commission is a coherent organization that shares a common culture ; of supranationalism. The European Union's multicephalous structure of political authority limits the capacity of European politicians to curb the autonomy of the Commission but tends to undermine the legitimacy of the organization, which finds itself under persistent political attacks. These attacks inadvertently help the organization bolster its defenses against the external threats and trigger internal legitimation processes that reinforce the devotion of its employees to its institutional mission. The rich survey data show how Commission bureaucrats establish themselves as the 'custodians of Europe'. The book helps disentangle the complexity of the Commission and makes a contribution to the study of international bureaucracies, a topic that has received little attention.