European union external trade policy: Multilevel principal-agent relationships

    Authors

    M. S. Reichert;B. M. E. Jungblut

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Policy Stud. J.

    Keywords

    POLITICAL-PARTIES; LEGISLATURES; PARLIAMENT; Political Science; Public Administration

    Abstract

    This article examines the potential political influences on European Union (EU) external trade policymaking. Given the EU's volume of international trade and its extensive involvement in bilateral and multilateral trade arrangements, a better understanding of how the EU makes external trade policy is increasingly important. It is an extremely complex process - involving the EU public, the 25 member states' parliaments and governments, and the institutions of the EU, including the Council of Ministers, the European Parliament, and the European Commission. It is a system of multilevel governance with overlapping jurisdictions with numerous potential access points for societal interests to influence European external trade policy. In this article, we evaluate the probable political channels that societal interests could use to influence EU external trade policy. We employ the principal - agent (P-A) framework to examine. five of the more important P - A relationships that are likely to in. fluence EU external trade policymaking. We conclude that EU policymaking as it pertains to external trade is quite insulated from general public pressures. The primary institutions involved in external trade policymaking are the EU Council of Ministers and the Commission - both of which are largely insulated from the public. Future empirical work should focus on this relationship between the Council of Ministers and the Commission.

    Journal Title

    Policy Studies Journal

    Volume

    35

    Issue/Number

    3

    Publication Date

    1-1-2007

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    395

    Last Page

    418

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000250520000005

    ISSN

    0190-292X

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