1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910780282203321

Autore

Hooghe Liesbet

Titolo

The European Commission and the integration of Europe : images of governance / / Liesbet Hooghe [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2001

ISBN

1-107-12422-0

0-511-15657-X

1-280-43356-6

0-511-04426-7

0-511-17588-4

0-511-32930-X

0-521-00143-9

0-511-49197-2

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xi, 279 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

Themes in European governance

Disciplina

341.24/2

Soggetti

European federation

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. 249-272) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Preference formation in the European commission -- Men (and women) at Europe's helm -- Images of Europe -- Beyond supranational interest -- Capitalism against capitalism -- Principal or agent -- Accommodating national diversity.

Sommario/riassunto

What kind of European Union do top Commission officials want? Should the European Union be supranational or intergovernmental? Should it promote market-liberalism or regulated capitalism? Should the Commission be Europe's government or its civil service? This 2002 book examines top officials' preferences on these questions through analysis of unique data from 137 interviews. Understanding the forces that shape human preferences is the subject of intense debate. Hooghe demonstrates that the Commission has difficulty shaping its employees' preferences in the fluid multi-institutional context of the European Union. Top officials' preferences are better explained by experiences outside rather than inside the Commission: political party, country, and prior work leave deeper imprints than directorate-general



or cabinet. Preferences are also influenced more by internalized values than by self-interested career calculation. Hooghe's findings are surprising, and will challenge a number of common assumptions about the workings and motives of the European Commission.