Conclusion

Abstract

The central theoretical puzzle of this book concerned the ways in which policy framing affects the processing of political interests and ideas and their expression in policy choices. Giving policy issues short shrift in theoretical accounts of policy making has biased standard frameworks of analysis towards conceptualising the effects of institutional structures and the political organisation of interests as largely independent from the issues at stake. The question of how the flow and structure of policy issues influence policy dynamics was largely ignored. Looking at theories of EU policy making, this book opened by arguing why it makes sense to shift the focus on policy issues.