The Character of EU Law and Governance: From ‘Community Method’ to New Modes of Governance
Kenneth Armstrong
Queen Mary University of London, School of Law
May 27, 2012
Current Legal Problems, Vol. 64, No. 1, pp. 179-214, 2011
Queen Mary School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 118/2012
Abstract:
The changing design of EU governance is often characterized as marking a departure from the ‘Community Method’ of governance and an arrival at a destination of ‘new modes of governance’. Nonetheless, scholars disagree as to the nature and scale of the governance changes taking place: whether they are minor deviations from a world of ‘hierarchy’ or whether they represent an emerging ‘experimentalist’ governance architecture. Moreover, changes in governance are not easily accommodated within legal discourse. For some, new modes of governance are a distraction from a more pervasive ‘legalism’. For others, differentiation in governance can be mapped on a scale of ‘legalization’. Yet, new modes of governance may be more challenging for law, either because they signify ‘de-legalization’ or a ‘transformation’ of law and governance. In exploring these different characterizations of EU law and governance the essay argues that what is emerging is a rich and complex mix of governance patterns and styles that poses challenges for law of greater or lesser extents. The yoking of different governance tools in a range of institutional designs results in more or less successful attempts to make the functional demands of governance meet the rival functional demands of law.
The changing design of EU governance is often characterized as marking a departure from the ‘Community Method’ of governance and an arrival at a destination of ‘new modes of governance’. Nonetheless, scholars disagree as to the nature and scale of the governance changes taking place: whether they are minor deviations from a world of ‘hierarchy’ or whether they represent an emerging ‘experimentalist’ governance architecture. Moreover, changes in governance are not easily accommodated within legal discourse. For some, new modes of governance are a distraction from a more pervasive ‘legalism’. For others, differentiation in governance can be mapped on a scale of ‘legalization’. Yet, new modes of governance may be more challenging for law, either because they signify ‘de-legalization’ or a ‘transformation’ of law and governance. In exploring these different characterizations of EU law and governance the essay argues that what is emerging is a rich and complex mix of governance patterns and styles that poses challenges for law of greater or lesser extents. The yoking of different governance tools in a range of institutional designs results in more or less successful attempts to make the functional demands of governance meet the rival functional demands of law.
Full text available at; http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2067317
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