Coalitions and decision-making arenas
- reformulating the European Employment Strategy

Article by Mikkel Mailand

This article analysis the reformulation processes of the European Employment Strategy (EES) with the double aim to describe the form of the interaction between the actors involved and to estimate the pattern of influence between them. It is argued, that the actors have formed two coalitions during the reformulations of the EES during the present decade, and that the European Commission has lost, and the member states gained, influence in the area. The reformulation processes has included attempts by some of the actors to change decision-making arenas - and to exclude issues from these arenas - in order to obtain their goals. The change in power-relations has not dramatically changed the content of the EES, but these changes might nevertheless explain the less why pressure on the member states through ‘naming and shaming' and has declined and why the strategy has become slightly more liberal orientation compared to its formation years in the mid-1990s.

Paper for the ESPANET-conference in Vienna, September 20-22, (revised version)

Download the full article (pdf)