Abstract
The complexity of the multi-level European polity is not adequately represented by the single-level theoretical concepts of competing “intergovernmentalist” and “supranationalist” approaches. By contrast, empirical research focusing on multi-level interactions tends either to emphasize the uniqueness of its objects, or to create novel concepts — which are likely to remain contested even among Europeanists and have the effect of isolating European studies form the political science mainstream in International Relations and Comparative Politics. These difficulties are bound to continue as long as researchers keep proposing holistic concepts that claim to represent the complex reality of the European polity as a whole. It is suggested that the present competition among poorly fitting and contested generalizations could be overcome if European studies made use of a plurality of simpler and complementary concepts, each of which is meant to represent the specific characteristics of certain subsets of multi-level interactions. The paper describes four distinct modes of multi-level interaction in the European polity — “mutual adjustment”, “intergovernmental negotiations”, “joint-decision making”, and “hierarchical direction” — and discusses their characteristics by reference to the criteria of problem-solving capacity and institutional legitimacy.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literatur
Abromeit, Heidrun, 1998: Democracy in Europe. Legitimizing Politics in a Non-State Polity, New York: Berghahn Books.
Armstrong, Kenneth A. and Simon J. Bulmer, 1998: The Governance of the Single European Market, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Bachrach, Peter and Morton S. Baratz, 1963: Decisions and Nondecisions. An Analytical Framework, in: American Political Science Review 57, S. 632–642.
Bickel, Alexander M., 1962: The Least Dangerous Branch. The Supreme Court at the Bar of Politics, Indianapolis: Bobbs Merril.
Branch, Ann P. and Jakob C. Øhrgaard, 1999: Trapped in the Supranational-Intergovernmental Dichotomy. A Response to Stone Sweet and Sandholtz, in: Journal of European Public Policy 6, S. 123–143.
Búrca, Gráinne de and Joanne Scott (Hrsg.), 2000: Constitutional Change in the EU. From Uniformity to Flexibility?, Oxford: Hart Publishing.
Burley, Anne-Marie and Walter Mattli, 1993: Europe Before the Court. A Political Theory of Legal Integration, in: International Organization 47, S. 41–76.
Crouch, Colin, 1993: Industrial Relations and European State Traditions, Oxford: Clarendon.
Dahl, Robert A., 1961: Who Governs? Democracy and Power in an American City, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Dahl, Robert A., 1967: Pluralist Democracy in the United States: Conflict and Consent, Chicago: Rand McNally.
Dehejia, Vivek H. and Philipp Genschel, 1999: Tax Competition in the European Union, in: Politics and Society 27, S. 403–430.
Ebbinghaus, Bernhard and Jelle Visser, 2000: Trade Unions in Western Europe since 1945, London: Macmillan Reference.
Ehlermann, Claus-Dieter, 1984: How Flexible Is Community Law? An Unusual Approach to the Concept of “Two Speeds”, in: Michigan Law Review 82, S. 1274–1293.
Ehlermann, Claus-Dieter, 1998: Differentiation, Flexibility, Closer Co-Operation. The New Provisions of the Amsterdam Treaty, in: European Law Journal 4, S. 246–270.
Eichener, Volker, 1997: Effective European Problem-Solving: Lessons from the Regulation of Occupational Safety and Environmental Protection, in: Journal of European Public Policy 4, S. 591–608.
Eichener, Volker, 2000: Das Entscheidungssystem der Europäischen Union. Institutionelle Analyse und demokratietheoretische Bewertung, Opladen: Leske + Budrich.
Elgie, Robert, 1998: Democratic Accountability and Central Bank Independence. Historical and Contemporary, National and European Perspectives, in: West European Politics 21(3), S. 53–76.
Esping-Andersen, Gøsta, 1990: The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Etzioni, Amitai, 1965: Political Unification. A Comparative Study of Leaders and Forces, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Falkner, Gerda, 1998: EU Social Policy in the 1990s. Towards a Corporatist Policy Community, London: Routledge.
Ferrera, Maurizio, Anton Hemerijck and Martin Rhodes, 2000: The Future of Social Europe. Recasting Work and Welfare in the New Economy, Oeiras: Celta Editora.
Garrett, Geoffrey, 1992: International Cooperation and Institutional Choice. The European Community’s Internal Market, in: International Organization 46, S. 533–560.
Garrett, Geoffrey, 1995: The Politics of Legal Integration in the European Union, in: International Organization 49, S. 171–181.
Genschel, Philipp, 1997: How Fragmentation Can Improve Co-ordination. Setting Standards in International Telecommunications, in: Organization Studies 18, S. 603–622.
Giering, Klaus, 1997: Vielfalt in Einheit — die Flexibilisierung der europäischen Integration, in: Europa Institut Zürich (Hrsg.), Die Europäische Union — Wesen, Struktur, Dynamik, Zürich: Schulthess Polygraphischer Verlag, S. 191–210.
Golub, Jonathan, 1996a: Sovereignty and Subsidiarity in EU Environmental Policy, in: Political Studies 44, S. 686–703.
Golub, Jonathan, 1996b: State Power and Institutional Influence in European Integration: Lessons from the Packaging Waste Directive, in: Journal of Common Market Studies 34, S. 313–339.
Grande, Edgar, 2000: Post-National Democracy in Europe, in: Michael Th. Greven and Louis W. Pauly (Hrsg.), Democracy Beyond the State? The European Dilemma and the Emerging Global Order, Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, S. 115–138.
Greven, Michael Th., 2000: Can the European Union Finally Become a Democracy?, in: Michael Th. Greven and Louis W. Pauly (Hrsg.), Democracy Beyond the State? The European Dilemma and the Emerging Global Order, Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, S. 35–61.
Gustavsson, Sverker, 2000: What Makes a European Monetary Union Without a Parallel Fiscal Union Politically Sustainable? Ms. Department of Political Science, Uppsala University.
Haan, Jacob de and Sylvester C.W. Eijffinger, 2000: The Democratic Accountability of the European Central Bank: A Comment on Two Fairy-Tales, in: Journal of Common Market Studies 38, S. 393–408.
Hardiman, Niamh, 2000: From Conflict to Coordination: Economic Governance and Political Innovation in Ireland. Ms. Politics Department, University College Dublin.
Hayes-Renshaw, Fiona and Helen Wallace, 1997: The Council of Ministers, London: Macmillan.
Héritier, Adrienne, 1999: Policy-Making and Diversity in Europe. Escaping Deadlock, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hoffmann, Stanley, 1966: Obstinate or Obsolete? The Fate of the Nation State and the Case of Western Europe, in: Daedalus 95, S. 892–908.
Hoffmann, Stanley, 1982: Reflections on the Nation-State in Western Europe Today, in: Journal of Common Market Studies 21, S. 21–37.
Jachtenfuchs, Markus und Beate Kohler-Koch (Hrsg.), 1996: Europäische Integration, Opladen: Leske + Budrich.
Joerges, Christian and Jürgen Neyer, 1997: Transforming Strategic Interaction into Deliberative Problem Solving: European Comitology in the Foodstuffs Sector, in: Journal of European Public Policy 4, S. 609–625.
Joerges, Christian and Ellen Vos (Hrsg.), 1999: EU Committees: Social Regulation, Law and Politics, Oxford: Hart.
Kamppeter, Werner, 2000: Lessons of European Integration, Bonn: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
Kohler-Koch, Beate and Rainer Eising (Hrsg.), 1999: The Transformation of Governance in the European Union, London: Routledge.
Ladeur, Karlheinz, 1992: Die Autonomie der Bundesbank — ein Beispiel für die institutionelle Verarbeitung von Ungewißheitsbedingungen, in: Staatswissenschaft und Staatspraxis 4, S. 486–508.
LaPalombara, Joseph, 1964: Interest Groups in Italian Politics, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Latham, Earl, 1952: The Group Basis of Politics, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Leibfried, Stephan and Paul Pierson (Hrsg.), 1995: European Social Policy. Between Fragmentation and Integration, Washington, DC: Brookings.
Lewis, Jeffrey, 2000: The Methods of Community in EU Decision-Making and Administrative Rivalry in the Council’s Infrastructure, in: Journal of European Public Policy 7, S. 261–289.
Lijphart, Arend, 1999: Patterns of Democracy. Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Lindblom, Charles E., 1977: Politics and Markets. The World’s Political-Economic Systems, New York: Basic Books.
Lister, Frederick K., 1996: The European Union, the United Nations, and the Revival of Confederal Governance, London: Greenwood Press.
Lord, Cristopher, 1998: Democracy in the European Union. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.
Majone, Giandomenico, 1989: Evidence, Argument and Persuasion in the Policy Process, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Majone, Giandomenico (Hrsg.), 1996: Regulating Europe, London: Routledge.
Marks, Gary and Doug McAdam, 1996: Social Movements and the Changing Structure of Political Opportunity in the European Union, in: Gary Marks et al., Governance in the European Union, London: Sage, S. 95–120.
Marks, Gary, Liesbet Hooghe and Kermit Blank, 1996: European Integration from the 1980s: State-Centric v. Multi-Level Governance, in: Journal of Common Market Studies 27, S. 63–84.
Mazey, Sonja and Jeremy Richardson (Hrsg.), 1993: Lobbying in the European Community, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McConnell, Grant, 1966: Private Power and American Democracy, New York: Knopf.
Mills, C. Wright, 1965: The Power Elite, New York: Oxford University Press.
Moravcsik, Andrew, 1993: Preferences and Power in the European Community. A Liberal Intergovernmentalist Approach, in: Journal of Common Market Studies 31, S. 473–524.
Moravcsik, Andrew, 1998: The Choice for Europe. Social Purpose and State Power from Messina to Maastricht, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Nicolaidis, Kalypso and Robert Howse (Hrsg.) (forthcoming): The Federal Vision. Legitimacy and Levels of Governance in the United States and the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Olson, Mancur, 1965: The Logic of Collective Action. Public Goods and the Theory of Groups, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Painter, Martin, 1998: Collaborative Federalism. Economic Reform in Australia in the 1990s, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pollack, Mark A., 1997: Representing Diffuse Interests in EC Policy-Making, in: Journal of European Public Policy 4, S. 572–590.
Pollack, Mark A., 2000: The End of Creeping Competence? EU Policy-Making Since Maastricht, in: Journal of Common Market Studies 38, S. 519–538.
Rapoport, Anatol and Melvin J. Guyer, 1966: A Taxonomy of 2 × 2 Games, in: General Systems 11, S. 203–214.
Rapoport, Anatol, Melvin J. Guyer and David G. Gordon, 1976: The 2×2 Game, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Riker, William H., 1964: Federalism. Origin, Operation, Significance, Boston: Little Brown.
Sabel, Charles F., 1995: Learning by Monitoring. The Institutions of Economic Development, in: Neil Smelser and Richard Swedberg (Hrsg.), Handbook of Economic Sociology, Princeton: Princeton University Press, S. 137–165.
Sandholtz, Wayne and Alec Stone Sweet (Hrsg.), 1998: European Integration and Supranational Governance, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sandholtz, Wayne, 1999: European Integration and Supranational Governance Revisited: Rejoinder to Branch and Øhrgaard, in: Journal of European Public Policy 6, S. 144–154.
Sbragia, Alberta M., 1992: Introduction, in: Alberta M. Sbragia (Hrsg.), Euro-Politics. Institutions and Policymaking in the „New“ European Community, Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, S. 1–22.
Sbragia, Alberta M., 1993: The European Community: A Balancing Act, in: Publius 23 (Summer 1993), S. 23–38.
Scharpf, Fritz W., 1988: The Joint Decision Trap. Lessons from German Federalism and European Integration, in: Public Administration 66, S. 239–278.
Scharpf, Fritz W., 1991: Crisis and Choice in European Social Democracy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Scharpf, Fritz W., 1997: Introduction: The Problem-Solving Capacity of Multi-Level Governance, in: Journal of European Public Policy 4, S. 520–538.
Scharpf, Fritz W., 1998: Globalisierung als Beschränkung der Handlungsmöglichkeiten nationalstaatlicher Politik, in: Jahrbuch für neue politische Ökonomie 17, S. 41–66.
Scharpf, Fritz W., 1999: Regieren in Europa. Effektiv und demokratisch?, Frankfurt a.M.: Campus.
Scharpf, Fritz W., 2000a: Institutions in Comparative Policy Research, in: Comparative Political Studies 33, S. 762–790.
Scharpf, Fritz W., 2000b: Interdependence and Democratic Legitimation, in: Susan J. Pharr and Robert D. Putnam (Hrsg.), Disaffected Democracies. What’s Troubling the Trilateral Countries?, Princeton: Princeton University Press, S. 101–120.
Scharpf, Fritz W., 2000c: Interaktionsformen. Akteurzentrierter Institutionalismus in der Politikforschung. UTB für Wissenschaft, Opladen: Leske + Budrich.
Scharpf, Fritz W. and Vivien A. Schmidt (Hrsg.), 2000a: Welfare and Work in the Open Economy. Vol. 1: From Vulnerability to Competitiveness, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Scharpf, Fritz W. (Hrsg.), 2000b: Welfare and Work in the Open Economy. Vol. 2: Diverse Responses to Common Challenges, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schmalz-Bruns, Rainer, 1999: Deliberativer Supranationalismus. Demokratisches Regieren jenseits des Nationalstaats, in: Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen 6, S. 185–244.
Schmidt, Manfred G., 2000: Der konsoziative Staat. Hypothesen zur politischen Struktur und zum politischen Leistungsprofil der Europäischen Union, in: Edgar Grande und Markus Jachtenfuchs (Hrsg.), Wie problemlösungsfähig ist die EU? Regieren im europäischen Mehrebenensystem.
Schmidt, Susanne K., 1998: Commission Activism. Subsuming Telecommunications and Electricity under European Competition Law, in: Journal of European Public Policy 5, S. 169–184.
Schmidt, Vivien A., 1999: European Federalism and Its Encroachments on National Institutions, in: Publius 29, S. 19–44.
Schmitter, Philippe, 1996: Imagining the Future of the Euro-Polity with the Help of New Concepts, in: Gary Marks, Fritz W. Scharpf, Philippe C. Schmitter and Wolfgang Streeck, Governance in the European Union, London: Sage, S. 121–150.
Schmitter, Philippe C. and Gerhard Lehmbruch (Hrsg.), 1979: Trends Toward Corporatist Intermeditation, London: Sage.
Sinn, Hans-Werner, 1994: How Much Europe? Subsidiarity, Centralization and Fiscal Competition, in: Scottish Journal of Political Economy 41, S. 85–107.
Sinn, Stefan, 1993: The Taming of Leviathan. Competition Among Governments, in: Constitutional Political Economy 3, S. 177–221.
Skocpol, Theda, 1987: A Society without a ’state’? Political Organization, Social Conflict, and Welfare Provision in the United States, in: Journal of Public Policy 7, S. 349–371.
Streeck, Wolfgang, 1995: From Market Making to State Building? Reflections on the Political Economy of European Social Policy, in: Stephan Leibfried and Paul Pierson (Hrsg.), European Social Policy. Between Fragmentation and Integration, Washington, DC: Brookings, S. 389–431.
Streeck, Wolfgang, 1997: Industrial Citizenship under Regime Competition: The Case of the European Works Council, in: Journal of European Public Policy 4, S. 643–664.
Truman, David B., 1951: The Governmental Process. Political Interests and Public Opinion, New York: Knopf.
Tsebelis, George, 1994: The Power of the European Parliament as a Conditional Agenda Setter, in: American Political Science Review 88, S. 128–142.
Vanberg, Viktor and Wolfgang Kerber, 1994: Institutional Competition among Jurisdictions: An Evolutionary Approach, in: Constitutional Polical Economy 5, S. 193–220.
Verdun, Amy, 1996: An „Asymmetrical“ Economic and Monetary Union in the EU. Perceptions of Monetary Authorities and Social Partners, in: Journal of European Integration 20, S. 59–81.
Verdun, Amy, 2000: European Responses to Globalization and Financial Market Integration. Perceptions of Economic and Monetary Union in Britain, France and Germany, Houndmills: Macmillan.
Visser, Jelle and Anton C. Hemerijck, 2001: Learning Ahead of Failure: A Research Agenda. Ms. Universität Amsterdam.
Walker, Neil, 1998: Sovereignty and Differentiated Integration in the European Union, in: European Law Journal 4, S. 355–388.
Wallace, William, 1982: Europe as a Confederation: The Community and the Nation State, in: Journal of Common Market Studies 21, S. 57–68.
Weiler, Joseph H.H., 1982: The Community System: The Dual Character of Supranationalism, in: Yearbook of European Law 1, S. 257–306.
Weiler, Joseph H.H., 1999: Epilogue: „Comitology“ as Revolution — Infranationalism, Constitutionalism and Democracy, in: Christian Joerges and Ellen Vos (Hrsg.), EU Committees: Social Regulation, Law and Politics, Oxford: Hart, S. 339–350.
Wessels, Wolfgang, 1990: Administrative Interaction, in: William Wallace (Hrsg.), The Dynamics of European Integration, London: Pinter, S. 229–241.
Wessels, Wolfgang, 1997: An Ever Closer Fusion? A Dynamic Maropolitical View on Integration Processes, in: Journal of Common Market Studies 35, S. 267–299.
Wolf, Dieter, 2000: Regelungsbefolgung auf verschiedenen politischen Ebenen. Wird nationales Recht wirklich besser befolgt als internationales Recht?, in: Jan W. van Deth und Thomas König (Hrsg.), Europäische Politikwissenschaft: Ein Blick in die Werkstatt, Frankfurt a.M.: Campus, S. 281–305.
Ziltener, Patrick, 2001: Wirtschaftliche Effekte der europäischen Integration — Theoriebildung und empirische Forschung. Ms. Köln: Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung.
Zürn, Michael, 1992: Interessen und Strukturen. Grundlegung und Anwendungen des situationsstrukturellen Ansatzes, Opladen: Leske + Budrich.
Zürn, Michael, 2000: Introduction — Law and Compliance at Different Levels. Ms. Center for European Law and Policy, Universität Bremen.
Additional information
Der Artikel ist die erweiterte und übersetzte Fassung einer Vorlesung anlässlich der Verleihung des Johan Skytte Preises für Politikwissenschaft am 30. September 2000 an der Universität Uppsala. Englischer Titel: Notes Toward a Theory of Multilevel Governing in Europe. Übersetzt von Hans-Jörg Schmedes und Arndt Wonka.
Fritz W. Scharpf, Direktor des Max-Planck-Instituts für Gesellschaftsforschung, Paulstraße 3, 50676 Köln
About this article
Cite this article
Scharpf, F.W. Regieren im europäischen Mehrebenensystem — Ansätze zu einer Theorie. Leviathan 30, 65–92 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11578-002-0011-8
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11578-002-0011-8