EU regional policy: The commission and sub-national mobilization in Scotland

Mackinnon, Patricia H.N. (2003) EU regional policy: The commission and sub-national mobilization in Scotland. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This study focuses on the role of the European Commission in framing EU regional policy. It traces the development of the policy to test two hypotheses. The first is that the Commission's introduction of the partnership principle created a channel of input for sub-national actors in the EU policy process, which has acted to empower them more generally. The second is that administration of the structural fund programmes enabled these actors to mobilise by increasingly engaging in policy-making activities with national governments and supranational institutions, thus expanding their role in this policy sector. The study documents how enlargement and changes in the EU's decision-making processes gradually altered the role of the European Commission and its Monnet era image as the 'public face' of the EU. The Commission was originally intended to be the primary source of initiation of policy ideas in the Community. But, as the policy process in the EU has become more complex, involving different levels of decision-making and new sets of non-governmental actors, such ideas now tend to come from different places. They are the product of collaborative development by the EU's main institutions, and a plethora of working groups and committees at the technical level of policy decision-making. The Commission has come to be characterised as a conduit and interlocutor for polity ideas and policy ideas from all of these sources. An illustrative case study of sub-national mobilization in Scotland is central to the work. The research was conducted as domestic competences were being devolved from Westminster. At the same time, Agenda 2000 was being launched in the EU and took, as one of its purposes, decentralization. In the reconfigured political landscape of post-devolution Scotland, the study links two areas. Specifically, the role of the Commission in EU regional policy, and the decision by Scottish sub-national actors to use the partnership model as a frame for political and policy choices. The thesis concludes by locating its findings in the wider context of European enlargement and globalization, and reviewing the pro-active efforts of sub-national actors in Scotland to enter the debate on the future of Europe and the structural funds.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Economics, European studies.
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Supervisor's Name: Peterson, Prof. John and Hogwood, Dr. Patricia
• Date of Award: 2003
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2003-71872
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 17 May 2019 09:31
• Last Modified: 09 Jun 2021 13:55
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/71872