Modernisation as Europeanisation

The Labour Government elected to office in Britain in 1997 is committed to modernisation. Observers may detect an echo here of earlier species of Labour modernisers, but the plans of all contemporary European governments, are located within the context of the Europeanisation of European governance. It is a process that impacts upon members of the European Union (EU) and those aspiring to join. An understanding of modernisation must take cognisance of developments in public administration and an understanding of the modernisation of public sector institutions within contemporary Europe requires the concept and process of Europeanisation be addressed. The study of Europeanisation, although exploring the impact of intergovernmental and supranational institutions, is mostly located at the national and sub-national level in terms of its effects. But its dynamics are (variously) national, regional, transnational, supranational and global. The ontology of Europeanisation, or perhaps more accurately, Europeanised institutions, is part of a broader global process that has its historical roots in the cold war and its present in the global economic liberalism that is stripping the political capacity of states to adequately deal with its consequences. Only in Europe is this referred to as Europeanisation. Despite the different British and Continental European traditions, there is an increasing convergence in the policy-making and institutional decision-making structures and procedures of their public administrations. At its grandest Europeanisation resurrects some of the neo-functionalist dynamic for supranationalism through institutional integration, with EU law as represented through the Union’s own court and national courts’ compliance being a key element. An implication of this is not that Europeanisation is inevitable, but is contingent upon social, political and economic interactions, while giving primacy to the impact of European developments at the domestic level. Europeanisation is often a fundamental constituent of analyses that argues that the power of national governments and the nation-state are being ‘hollowed-out’ and transferred up to supranational institutions and down to the regions. But this article argues that the impact has been both ways, as national governments have demanded in return, the modernisation of the Commission and its increased efficiency and accountability.