Synopses & Reviews
Starting from the basic assumption that institutionalized processes of information transfers are never entirely neutral but advantage certain types of information over others, this powerful collection presents the results of a research agenda that, through empirical investigation, systematically examines how information plays a key role in policy-making. As a very dynamic environment characterized by many different modes of information gathering and processing, the European Union forms a particularly interesting venue in which to test the 'politics of information' approach.
With a mandate to go beyond the general assertion that informational asymmetry matters, the study has selected a number of pivotal EU actors and policy areas, studying them through 'information lenses'. More concretely the different contributions present a better understanding of the politics of information by examining the formal rules of information access, distribution and processing and by studying how these rules are applied in the day-to-day policy process.
Synopsis
This collection presents the results of a research agenda which examines how information plays a key role in policymaking. As a very dynamic environment characterized by many different modes of information gathering and processing, the EU forms a particularly interesting case to test the politics of information approach.
About the Author
Tannelie Blom is Professor at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University, the Netherlands, holding a chair in the theory and politics of European integration. His main fields of research concern the role of bureaucracies in supra- and international policy-making and democratization processes beyond the nation state. Recent publications have dealt with the democratic deficit of the EU, with EU modes of governance and with European agencies.
Sophie Vanhoonacker is Jean Monnet Professor and has a chair in Administrative Governance at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University, the Netherlands. Her main field of research is in the area of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. Recent publications have dealt with the emerging system of an EU level system of diplomacy and its processes of institutionalisation.
Table of Contents
1. The Politics of Information: A New Research Agenda; Tannelie Blom and Sophie Vanhoonacker
PART I: CONCEPTUAL AND HISTROICAL REFLECTIONS
2. The Politics of Information: An Organization Theoretical Perspective; Tannelie Blom
3 Information Processes and International Organisations (1910-1940); Michael Geary and Nico Randeraad
4 The Politics of Peer Reviewing: Comparing the OECD and the EU; Thomas Conzelmann
PART II: INSTITUTIONS
5. COREPER: Linking Capitals and Brussels; Jeffrey Lewis
6. Who Selects What and How? How the European Parliament Obtains and Processes Information for Policy-Making; Mathias Dobbels and Christine Neuhold
7. The Politics of Information in the EU: The Case of European Agencies; Tannelie Blom, Loes van Suijlekom, Esther Versluis and Martin Wirtz
PART III: INTERESTS AND EXPERTISE
8. The European Commission's Relations with Interest Organisations: Master of the Information Universe?; Justin Greenwood
9. The European Commission's Expert Groups as an Information System ; Åse Gornitzka and Ulf Sverdrup
10. Informational Asymmetries in the EU: Fault Lines Running Through the Comitology System; Thomas Christiansen
11. Information, Expertise and the Common Agricultural Policy: The Role and Influence of European Farm Organizations in Historical Perspective; Carine Germond
PART IV: INFORMING THE PUBLIC
12. The Commission, the Politics of Information and the European Public Sphere ; Patrick Bijsmans
13. The European Parliament 'On Air'; Michael Shackleton
PART V: INFORMATION IN THE FIELD OF FOREIGN POLICY AND SECURITY
14. EU Foreign Policy and the Politics of Information; Federica Bicchi
15. Information in EU Security and Defence; Hylke Dijkstra
16. Intelligence and EU External Relations: Operational to Constitutive Politics ; Simon Duke
17. The Politics of Information in EU Internal Security: Information Sharing by European Agencies; Madalina Busuioc and Deirdre Curtin
18. Conclusion; Tannelie Blom and Sophie Vanhoonacker