Europeanization of regional decision-making processes

Abstract

Recent literature has, to a limited extent, explored the Europeanization of sub-national levels of governance, particularly in unitary states and/or closely integrated non-member states. This article examines the Europeanization of the final stages of decision-making processes in Norwegian regions (County Municipalities). By drawing empirically on a sub-national level of governance in a smaller unitary state and closely integrated non-member state, the article contributes to expanding the literature on “top-down” Europeanization with a “less likely case”. The study demonstrates how various policy areas are affected to varying degrees by Europeanization in the final stages of decision-making processes, with potential implications for cross-sectoral coordination and the actual governance of regional decision-making processes. Europeanization can, among other things, challenge cross-sectoral coordination by causing Europeanized “enclaves” within the county administrations to develop different decision-making behavior than other parts of the administrations. The article raises questions about whether Europeanization and multi-level administrative processes may weaken the possibilities for overall management of the comprehensive task portfolios of sub-national entities.

The article combines quantitative techniques (N=1109) with qualitative text analysis.