The European Commission and Bureaucratic Autonomy
Europe's Custodians

Documents the struggle of the European Commission to maintain its autonomy in a complex institutional setting and adverse political environment.

Antonis A. Ellinas (Author), Ezra Suleiman (Author)

9781107689718, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 May 2014

252 pages, 2 b/w illus. 36 tables
21.6 x 14 x 1.5 cm, 0.33 kg

"By building on earlier studies that focus on the role of the European bureaucracy and relying on extensive survey research, Ellinas and Suleiman offer an empirically sound study that assesses the European Commission within the broader context of political legitimacy and autonomy. Summing Up: Recommended" -A.E. Wohlers, Cameron University, CHOICE Magazine

This book examines the struggle of the European Union bureaucracy to maintain its autonomy in an increasingly complex institutional setting and adverse political environment. Using an original survey of nearly two hundred top European Commission officials, it shows that the Commission is a coherent organization that shares a common culture of supranationalism. The European Union's multicephalous structure of political authority limits the capacity of European politicians to curb the autonomy of the Commission but tends to undermine the legitimacy of the organization, which finds itself under persistent political attacks. These attacks inadvertently help the organization bolster its defenses against the external threats and trigger internal legitimation processes that reinforce the devotion of its employees to its institutional mission. The rich survey data show how Commission bureaucrats establish themselves as the 'custodians of Europe'. The book helps disentangle the complexity of the Commission and makes a contribution to the study of international bureaucracies, a topic that has received little attention.

1. Introduction
2. The autonomy of national and transnational bureaucracies
3. Surveying top European bureaucrats
4. Autonomy at the top of the European bureaucracy
5. Political attempts to alter bureaucratic behavior
6. Cultural impediments to political control
7. Custodians of 'Europe'
8. Bureaucratic attitudes and policy outputs
9. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: EU & European institutions [JPSN2], Comparative politics [JPB]