The Agency Phenomenon in the European Union

The Agency Phenomenon in the European Union: European Policy Research Unit

This volume offers a comprehensive analysis of the agency phenomenon in the European Union. It takes stock of the emergence and development of EU agencies, providing insight into the characteristics as well as the consequences of the ongoing EU agencification process. With this in mind, the volume first of all traces the varied roots of and routes to agency emergence and institutionalisation. Going beyond general trends and developments, it also studies the specifics of everyday decision-making processes within EU-level agencies, notably the management of such agencies, their role in the creation of network structures in European executive governance and in the implementation of EU legislation at the member state level, and the varied sources of agency accountability.

The ambition of the volume is to offer an even-handed assessment and explanation of agency creation, design, and evolution at the EU level. EU-level agencies in some circumstances seem to be capable of expanding their role beyond the levels mandated by formal design. Simultaneously, the role and behaviour displayed by agencies' institutional principals and/or account-holders often diverge from formal expectations and complex dynamics arise between EU agencies as 'newcomers' and existing institutional structures. The volume thus not merely examines the formal, de jure design of EU agencies but also studies the real-life, de facto role of EU-level agencies and actual institutional dynamics. As such, it contributes to the debate about the role and place of agencies in the governance of the EU, fuelling theoretical and practical discussions with substantiated arguments rather than a priori normative assumptions. This book will appeal to academics, students and practitioners interested in the politics, governance and everyday functioning of the European Union.

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