Three Case-Studies in Network Activation

In their wider sense, policy networks have been described as ‘mechanisms of political resource mobilization in situations where the capacity for decision making, program formulation and implementation is widely distributed or dispersed among private and public actors’ (Kenis and Schneider, 1991, p. 41). The study of national responses to particular sets of negotiations should therefore improve one’s understanding of the way domestic networks can help promote national interests in the negotiation of a European directive or position. To try and address this issue, three case-studies are presented in a first section: the negotiations around the Second Banking Directive; those related to the Insider Dealing Directive; and the discussions leading to the adoption of a European position on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). All three cut across a variety of market segments, and as such could have interested a wide range of organizations in the sector. Each time, three aspects are distinguished, always placing the emphasis on the patterns of interorganizational contacts: first the activation of issue-specific networks at domestic level; second the building of national consensus, with a peculiar emphasis on state-interest groups coordination; and third the promotion of domestic stances on the European stage (Figure 5.1). In a second section, these characteristics are reviewed anew, this time in an attempt to compare and assess their significance, and to identify elements of network ‘efficiency’ in a European setting.