Abstract
The European Commission has always attracted significant scholarly attention, though in the past, interest was mainly directed towards its role and influence in policy making. That has now changed. The Commission has become the focus of a broad research agenda and a literature that has delivered new knowledge and significantly advanced understanding of the Commission as a public administration. This chapter has two aims: the first is to provide a historically informed overview of the Commission as an administration; the second is to critically review key debates about its singularity, internal operation and leadership, the backgrounds and beliefs of the people who work for the organization, and the extent to which the Commission affects the values of its staff.
References
Balint, T., Bauer, M. W., & Knill, C. (2008). Bureaucratic change in the European administrative space: The case of the European Commission. West European Politics, 31, 677–700.
Bauer, M. W. (2007). The politics of reforming the European Commission administration. In M. W. Bauer & C. Knill (Eds.), Management reforms in international organizations. Nomos: Baden-Baden.
Bauer, M. W. (2008a). Special issue: Reforming the European Commission. Journal of European Public Policy, 15, 625–626.
Bauer, M. W. (2008b). Diffuse anxieties deprived entrepreneurs: Commission reform and middle management. Journal of European Public Policy, 15, 691–707.
Bauer, M. W. (2009). Impact of administrative reform of the European Commission: Results from a survey of heads of unit in policy-making directorates. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 75, 459–472.
Bauer, M. W. (2012). Tolerant, If personal goals remain unharmed: Explaining supranational bureaucrats’ attitudes to organizational change. Governance, 25, 485–510.
Bauer, M. W., & Knill, C. (Eds.). (2007). Management reforms in international organizations. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
Bauer, M. W., & Knill, C. (2016). Policy-making by international public administrations: Concepts, causes and consequences. Journal of European Public Policy, 23, 949–959.
Bes, B. J. (2013). The role conceptions of senior commission officials: The persistent influence of national factors. Paper presented at the 7th ECPR General Conference 4–7 September, Bordeaux, France.
Brittan, L. (2000). A diet of Brussels: The changing face of Europe. Boston, MA: Little Brown.
Campbell, J. (1983). Roy Jenkins: A biography. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
Checkel, J. (2005). International institutions and socialization in Europe: Introduction and framework. International Organization, 59, 801–826.
Claude, I. L. (1956). Swords into plowshares: The problems and process of international organization. New York: Random House.
Commission. (2000). Reforming the commission—A white paper COM/2000/0200 final (2 parts). http://ec.europa.eu/reform/refdoc/index_en.htm. Accessed 30 Nov, 2016.
Connolly, S., & Kassim, H. (2015a). The European Commission: Facing the future. https://www.uea.ac.uk/political-social-international-studies/facingthefuture. Accessed 30 Nov, 2016.
Connolly, S., & Kassim, H. (2015b). The permanent commission bureaucrat. In M. W. Bauer & J. Trondal (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of the European administrative system (pp. 260–290). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Connolly, S., & Kassim, H. (2016). “Supranationalism” in question: Beliefs, values and the socializing power of the European Commission revisited. Public Administration, 94, 717–737.
Coombes, D. (1970). Politics and bureaucracy in the European community a portrait of the commission of the E. E. C. London: Allen and Unwin.
Cox, R. W. (1969). The executive head: An essay on leadership in international organization. International Organization, 23, 205–230.
Cox, R. W., & Jacobson, H. K. (1973). The anatomy of influence: Decision making in international organization. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Cram, L. (1994). The European Commission as a multi-organization: Social policy and IT policy in the EU. Journal of European Public Policy, 1, 195–217.
Dehousse, R., & Thompson, A. (2012). Intergovernmentalists in the Commission. In N. Brack & O. Costa (Eds.), Euroscepticism within the EU institutions: Diverging views of Europe. Abingdon: Routledge.
Dimitrakopoulos, D. G. (Ed.). (2004). The changing European Commission. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Dimitrakopoulos, D. G. (2008). Collective leadership in leaderless Europe: A sceptical view. In J. Hayward (Ed.), Leaderless Europe (pp. 288–304). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dimitrakopoulos, D. G., & Page, E. C. (2012). Rewards at the top: The European Union. In M. Brans & B. G. Peters (Eds.), Rewards for high public office in Europe and North America (pp. 269–284). Abingdon: Routledge.
Duchêne, F. (1994). Jean Monnet. The first statesman of interdépendance. London: W.W. Norton and Company.
Egeberg, M. (1996). Organization and nationality in the European Commission services. Public Administration, 74, 721–735.
Egeberg, M. (2012). How bureaucratic structure matters: An organizational perspective. In B. G. Peters & J. Pierre (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of public administration (pp. 157–168). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Egeberg, M., & Heskestad, A. (2010). The denationalization of cabinets in the European Commission. Journal of Common Market Studies, 48, 775–786.
Haas, E. B. (1958). The uniting of Europe. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Hallstein, W. (1972). Europe in the making. London: George Allen and Unwin.
Hallstein, W. (1965). The EEC Commission: A new factor in international life. International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 14, 727–741.
Hartlapp, M., Metz, J., & Rauh, C. (2014). Which policy for Europe? Power and conflict inside the European Commission. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hix, S., & Hoyland, B. (2011). The political system of the European Union. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hooghe, L. (1997). ‘A House with Differing Views: The European Commission and Cohesion Policy’. In N. Nugent (Ed.), At the Heart of the Union: Studies of the European Commission. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hooghe, L. (1999). Consociationalists or Weberians? Top commission officials on nationality. Governance, 12, 397–424.
Hooghe, L. (2002). The European Commission and the integration of Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hooghe, L. (2005). Several roads lead to international norms, but few via international socialization: A case study of the European Commission. International Organization, 59, 861–898.
Hooghe, L. (2012). Images of Europe: How commission officials conceive their institution’s role. Journal of Common Market Studies, 50, 87–111.
Joana, & Smith, A. (2002). Les commissaires européens: technocrates, diplomates ou politiques? Paris: Presses de Sciences Po.
Jupille, J. (2004). Procedural politics issues, influence, and institutional choice in the European Union. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kassim, H. (2004a). The Kinnock reforms in perspective: Why reforming the commission is an heroic, but thankless, task. Public Policy and Administration, 19(3), 25–41.
Kassim, H. (2004b). A historic accomplishment? The Prodi Commission and administrative reform. In D. G. Dimitrakopoulos (Ed.), The changing European Commission. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Kassim, H. (2006). The secretariat general of the European Commission. In D. Spence & G. Edwards (Eds.), The European Commission (3rd ed.). London: John Harper.
Kassim, H. (2008). “Mission Impossible”, but mission accomplished: The Kinnock reforms and the European Commission. Journal of European Public Policy, 15, 648–668.
Kassim, H. (2016). What’s new? A first appraisal of the Juncker Commission. European Political Science, 1–20.
Kassim, H., Peterson, J., Bauer, M. W., Connolly, S., Dehousse, R., Hooghe, L., et al. (2013). The European Commission of the twenty-first century. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kassim, H., Connolly, S., Dehousse, R., Rozenberg, O., & Benjaballah, S. (2017). Managing the house: The Presidency, agenda control and policy activism in the European Commission, Journal of European Public Policy, 24, 653–674.
Laursen, F. (2012). Designing the European Union. From Paris to Lisbon. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Lemaignen, R. (1964). L’Europe au berceau: Souvenirs d’un technocrate. Paris: Plon.
Lindberg, L. N. (1963). The political dynamics of European economic integration. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Loth, W., Wallace, W., & Wessels, W. (Eds.). (1998). Walter Hallstein. The forgotten European?. London: Macmillan.
McDonald, M. (1997). Identities in the European Commission. In N. Nugent (Ed.), At the heart of the union: Studies of the European Commission (pp. 49–70). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Metcalfe, L. (1992). After 1992: Can the commission manage Europe? Australian Journal of Public Administration, 51(1), 117–130.
Michelmann, H. J. (1978). Organizational effectiveness in a multinational bureaucracy. New York: Praeger.
Monnet, J. (1978). Memoirs. New York: Knopf.
Murdoch, Z., & Geys, B. (2012). Instrumental calculation, cognitive role-playing, or both? Self-perceptions of seconded national experts in the European Commission. Journal of European Public Policy, 19, 1357–1376.
Murdoch, Z., & Trondal, J. (2013). Contracted government: Unveiling the European Commission’s contracted staff. West European Politics, 36, 1–21.
Noël, E. (1992). Témoignage: l’Administration de la Communauté Européenne dans la Rétrospection d’un Ancien Haut Fonctionnaire, Jahrbuch für Europäische Verwaltungsgeschichte 4 (Die Anfänge der Verwaltung der Europäischen Gemeinschaft), 145–158.
Noël, E. (1998). Walter Hallstein: A personal testimony. In W. Loth, W. Wallace, & W. Wessels (Eds.), Walter Hallstein. The forgotten European?. London: Macmillan.
Page, E. C. (1997). People who run Europe. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Pollack, M. A. (1998). Constructivism, social psychology and elite attitude change: Lessons from an exhausted research program. Paper presented at the 11th International Conference of Europeanists, February.
Pollack, M. A. (2003). The engines of European integration: Delegation, agency, and agenda setting in the EU. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pollitt, C., & Bouckaert, G. (2011). Public management reform: A comparative analysis (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ross, G. (1995). Jacques Delors and European integration. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Sasse, C., Poullet, E., Coombes, D., & Deprez, G. (1977). Decision making in the European community. New York: Praeger.
Schön-Quinlivan, E. (2011). Reforming the European Commission. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Scully, R. (2005). Becoming Europeans? Attitudes, behaviour, and socialization in the European Parliament. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Seidel, K. (2010). The process of politics in Europe: The rise of European elites and supranational institutions. London: I.B. Tauris.
Shore, C. N. (2000). Building Europe: The cultural politics of European integration (p. 260). New York: Routledge.
Sidjanski, D. (1965). Some remarks on Siotis’ article. Journal of Common Market Studies, 3, 47–61.
Siotis, J. (1964). Some problems of European secretariats. Journal of Common Market Studies, 2(3), 222–250.
Smith, A. (Ed.). (2004). Politics and the European Commission: Actors, interdependence, legitimacy. London: Routledge.
Spence, D. (2006). The President, the college and the cabinets. In D. Spence & G. Edwards (Eds.), The European Commission (3rd ed.). London: John Harper.
Spence, D., & Edwards, G. (Eds.). 2006. The European Commission (3rd ed.). London: John Harper.
Stevens, A., & Stevens, H. (2001). Brussels bureaucrats? The administration of the European Union. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Topan, A. (2002). The resignation of the Santer-Commission: The impact of “Trust” and “Reputation”. European Integration Online Papers, 6(14). http://eiop.or.at/eiop/texte/2002-014a.htm.
Trondal, J. (2001). The parallel administration of the European Commission: National officials in European clothes? Paper presented at ECPR Joint Sessions, Grenoble.
Trondal, J. (2006). ‘Governing at the Frontier of the European Commission: The Case of Seconded National Officials’, West European Politics, 29(1), 147–160.
Trondal, J. (2007a). Is the European Commission a “Hothouse” for supranationalism? Exploring actor-level supranationalism. Journal of Common Market Studies, 45, 1111–1133.
Trondal, J. (2007b). The public administration turn in integration research. Journal of European Public Policy, 14, 960–972.
Trondal, J. (2011). Bureaucratic structure and administrative behaviour. Lessons from international bureaucracies. West European Politics, 34, 795–818.
Trondal, J., Marcussen, M., Larsson, T., & Veggeland, F. (2010). Unpacking international organisations: The dynamics of compound bureaucracies. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Trondal, J., Van den Berg, C., & Suvarierol, S. (2008). The compound machinery of government: The case of seconded national officials in the European Commission. Governance, 21, 253–274.
Tugenhadt, C. (1986). Making sense of Europe. London: Viking.
Wille, A. (2013). The normalization of the European Commission. Politics and bureaucracy in the EU executive. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Young, O. R. (1991). Leadership and regime formation: On the development of institutions in international society. International Organization, 45, 281–308.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kassim, H. (2018). The European Commission as an Administration. In: Ongaro, E., Van Thiel, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Public Administration and Management in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55269-3_41
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55269-3_41
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-55268-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-55269-3
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)