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Runaway Bureaucracy? Exploring the Role of Nordic Regulatory Agencies in the European Union
Author(s) -
Martens Maria
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
scandinavian political studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.65
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-9477
pISSN - 0080-6757
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9477.2008.00194.x
Subject(s) - bureaucracy , autonomy , public administration , european union , political science , commission , european commission , corporate governance , work (physics) , democracy , public relations , business , law , international trade , politics , mechanical engineering , finance , engineering
This article reports a comparative study of the Environmental Regulatory Agencies in Norway, Denmark and Finland. Increasingly and relatively independently these agencies are taking part in transnational networks in the European Union involving the European Commission. An informal penetration, fuelled by faster electronic technology, is taking place between the European Commission and the regulatory agencies, largely outside the control of the domestic politico‐administrative leadership. Changes in the character of the states’ public administrations serve as an important background for these developments, a distinctive feature being the ‘agencification’ of the administrative apparatus during the last decades. Due to their relative autonomy, the national regulatory agencies are well placed to work ‘double‐hatted’ in the sense that they interact directly with the European Commission at the same time as they perform traditional tasks as agents of national ministries. This development may challenge the image of integrated administrative apparatus and the notion of transparent and democratic governance.