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Association: Name: The Midwest Political Science Association URL: http://www.indiana.edu/~mpsa/
Citation: URL: http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p82982_index.html Direct Link: HTML Code:

Lopez-Santana, Mariely. "How the Soft Pressure from Above affects the Bottom: Member States’ social policy, national policy-making processes, and Europeanization." Paper presented at the annual meeting of the The Midwest Political Science Association, Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, Illinois, Apr 15, 2004 <Not Available>. 2009-05-26 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p82982_index.html>

Lopez-Santana, M. , 2004-04-15 "How the Soft Pressure from Above affects the Bottom: Member States’ social policy, national policy-making processes, and Europeanization." Paper presented at the annual meeting of the The Midwest Political Science Association, Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, Illinois <Not Available>. 2009-05-26 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p82982_index.html

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript Review Method: Peer Reviewed Abstract: Since the late 1980’s, there has been growing interest among policy-makers and scholars in the establishment of a cooperative framework for social policy in the European Union (EU) and its consequences on European member States’ welfare structures. The Amsterdam Treaty (enacted in 1999) developed the European Employment Strategy (EES), a supranational to boost employment rates and European competitiveness. The strategy represents a new regulatory model for developing a social dimension within the European Union that is not legally binding, and it is voluntary in nature. The formalization of the EES represents an innovative form of European governance because, in some way or another, European member States are accountable to the European Union on the future of their welfare systems and policies. The purpose of this paper is to answer the following question: How non-binding European regulations on the area of social policy affect existing policy-making processes and welfare policies at the national level? Moreover, it seeks to explain how and why the European Employment Strategy transforms (or not) member States’ welfare structures and procedures. This comparative research project focuses its attention on the policy field of employment. I argue that since the introduction of the EES, national administrators consider an additional set of information, provided by the European Union, when they engage in the process of (re) formulating and (re) creating their welfare systems. This information allows civil servants and policy-makers to: a) to consider policies that did not form part of their repertoire of possible solutions; b) to reconsider policies that were considered too costly by member States; and/or c) to strengthen and reinforce current national welfare policies that follow the European policy line. To illustrate and sustain my argument, I present qualitative data gathered in Spain, Belgium, and Sweden. The paper seeks to contribute to the literature on: a) the effect of non-binding agreements (soft-law) on domestic settings, b) Europeanization, and c) comparative policy-making processes. The research project attempts to demonstrate how non-domestic forces that are non-binding and voluntary in nature have the power to influence national policy-making processes. In addition, it seeks to expand the growing literature on Europeanization (‘top-down’ approach) that studies the effect of supranational processes on member States by exploring relatively new phenomena—the development of non-binding and voluntary measures by the European Union, and the regulation of employment policy by the supranational entity. Finally, the paper adds a twist to the literature on policy-making processes by developing a framework to understand how exogenous (non-domestic) pressures affect national policy-making processes. This is an innovative approach to the study of policy-making processes because it considers and compares the growing interrelationship of non-domestic and domestic settings on social issues and policies, and its effect on nation-states’ policy-making processes.

How the Soft Pressure from Above transforms the Bottom: Member States’ social policy, national policy-making processes, and Europeanization.

SOFT EUROPEANIZATION?: THE INFLUENCE OF THE EUROPEAN EMPLOYMENT STRATEGY IN PROCESSES AND EMPLOYMENT POLICIES IN EU MEMBER STATES