IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/eeupol/v22y2021i4p611-630.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Joint bodies in the European Union's international agreements: Delegating powers to the European Commission in EU external relations

Author

Listed:
  • Markus Gastinger
  • Andreas Dür

Abstract

In many international agreements, the European Union sets up joint bodies such as ‘association councils’ or ‘joint committees’. These institutions bring together European Union and third-country officials for agreement implementation. To date, we know surprisingly little about how much discretion the European Commission enjoys in them. Drawing on a principal–agent framework, we hypothesise that the complexity of agreements, the voting rule, conflict within the Council, and agency losses can explain Commission discretion in these institutions. Drawing on an original dataset covering nearly 300 such joint bodies set up by the European Union since 1992, we find robust empirical support for all expectations except for the agency loss thesis. Our findings suggest that the European Commission is the primary actor in the implementation of many of the European Union's international agreements, allowing it to influence EU external relations beyond what is currently acknowledged in the literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Markus Gastinger & Andreas Dür, 2021. "Joint bodies in the European Union's international agreements: Delegating powers to the European Commission in EU external relations," European Union Politics, , vol. 22(4), pages 611-630, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:22:y:2021:i:4:p:611-630
    DOI: 10.1177/14651165211027397
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14651165211027397
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/14651165211027397?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Young, Alasdair R. & Peterson, John, 2014. "Parochial Global Europe: 21st Century Trade Politics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199579907.
    2. Liesbet Hooghe & Gary Marks, 2015. "Delegation and pooling in international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 305-328, September.
    3. Thomson, Robert & Torenvlied, René, 2011. "Information, Commitment and Consensus: A Comparison of Three Perspectives on Delegation in the European Union," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(1), pages 139-159, January.
    4. Pollack, Mark A., 2003. "The Engines of European Integration: Delegation, Agency, and Agenda Setting in the EU," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199251179.
    5. Yoram Haftel, 2013. "Commerce and institutions: Trade, scope, and the design of regional economic organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 389-414, September.
    6. Downs, George W. & Rocke, David M. & Barsoom, Peter N., 1996. "Is the good news about compliance good news about cooperation?," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(3), pages 379-406, July.
    7. Nielson, Daniel L. & Tierney, Michael J., 2003. "Delegation to International Organizations: Agency Theory and World Bank Environmental Reform," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 57(2), pages 241-276, April.
    8. Anastasopoulos, L. Jason & Bertelli, Anthony M., 2020. "Understanding Delegation Through Machine Learning: A Method and Application to the European Union," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 114(1), pages 291-301, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michael Zürn & Alexandros Tokhi & Martin Binder, 2021. "The International Authority Database," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 12(4), pages 430-442, September.
    2. Fabio Franchino & Camilla Mariotto, 2021. "Noncompliance risk, asymmetric power and the design of enforcement of the European economic governance," European Union Politics, , vol. 22(4), pages 591-610, December.
    3. Tobias Lenz & Besir Ceka & Liesbet Hooghe & Gary Marks & Alexandr Burilkov, 2023. "Discovering cooperation: Endogenous change in international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 631-666, October.
    4. repec:bla:glopol:v:8:y:2017:i:s5:p:51-61 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. repec:bla:glopol:v:8:y:2017:i:s5:p:102-112 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Zürn, Michael & Tokhi, Alexandros & Binder, Martin, 2021. "The International Authority Database," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 12(4), pages 430-442.
    7. Klaus H. Goetz & Ronny Patz & Eugénia Heldt & Henning Schmidtke, 2017. "Measuring the Empowerment of International Organizations: The Evolution of Financial and Staff Capabilities," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 8, pages 51-61, August.
    8. Klaus H. Goetz & Ronny Patz & Steffen Eckhard & Hylke Dijkstra, 2017. "Contested Implementation: The Unilateral Influence of Member States on Peacebuilding Policy in Kosovo," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 8, pages 102-112, August.
    9. Oliver Westerwinter, 2021. "Transnational public-private governance initiatives in world politics: Introducing a new dataset," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 137-174, January.
    10. Besir Ceka and Brian Burgo, 2014. "Discovering Cooperation: A Contractual Approach to Institutional Change in Regional International Organizations," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers p0388, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
    11. Libman, Alexander & Vinokurov, Evgeny, 2016. "Региональные Организации: Типы И Логика Развития [Regional Organizations: Typology and Development Paths]," MPRA Paper 79383, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Michal Parízek, 2017. "Control, soft information, and the politics of international organizations staffing," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 559-583, December.
    13. Lee, Jiwon & Wittgenstein, Teresa, 2017. "Weak vs. Strong Ties: Explaining Early Settlement in WTO Disputes," ILE Working Paper Series 7, University of Hamburg, Institute of Law and Economics.
    14. Michael W. Manulak, 2017. "Leading by design: Informal influence and international secretariats," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 497-522, December.
    15. Rauh, Christian & Zürn, Michael, 2020. "Authority, politicization, and alternative justifications: endogenous legitimation dynamics in global economic governance," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 27(3), pages 583-611.
    16. Kreuder-Sonnen, Christian, 2019. "International authority and the emergency problematique: IO empowerment through crises," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 11(2), pages 182-210.
    17. Ryan Federo & Angel Saz-Carranza, 2017. "Devising Strategic Plans to improve Organizational Performance of Intergovernmental Organizations," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 8(2), pages 202-212, May.
    18. Leslie Johns, 2014. "Depth versus rigidity in the design of international trade agreements," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 26(3), pages 468-495, July.
    19. Manuele Citi & Mads Dagnis Jensen, 2022. "The Effects of Supranational Delegation on Policy Development," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(2), pages 337-354, March.
    20. Jofre Rocabert & Frank Schimmelfennig & Loriana Crasnic & Thomas Winzen, 2019. "The rise of international parliamentary institutions: Purpose and legitimation," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 607-631, December.
    21. Diana Panke, 2020. "Regional cooperation through the lenses of states: Why do states nurture regional integration?," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 475-504, April.
    22. Cupać, Jelena, 2020. "Orders, purposes, and tasks: How do states act in international security organizations?," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Global Governance SP IV 2020-104, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:22:y:2021:i:4:p:611-630. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.