Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Contributors
- Part I International Institutions as Community Builders
- Part II The Socializing Power of European Institutions
- 2 Strategic Calculation and International Socialization: Membership Incentives, Party Constellations, and Sustained Compliance in Central and Eastern Europe
- 3 Several Roads Lead to International Norms, but Few Via International Socialization: A Case Study of the European Commission
- 4 Multiple Embeddedness and Socialization in Europe: The Case of Council Officials
- 5 The Janus Face of Brussels: Socialization and Everyday Decision Making in the European Union
- 6 Security Institutions as Agents of Socialization? NATO and the ‘New Europe’
- Part III Critique, Conclusions, and Extensions
- Index
- References
3 - Several Roads Lead to International Norms, but Few Via International Socialization: A Case Study of the European Commission
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 November 2009
Edited by
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Contributors
- Part I International Institutions as Community Builders
- Part II The Socializing Power of European Institutions
- 2 Strategic Calculation and International Socialization: Membership Incentives, Party Constellations, and Sustained Compliance in Central and Eastern Europe
- 3 Several Roads Lead to International Norms, but Few Via International Socialization: A Case Study of the European Commission
- 4 Multiple Embeddedness and Socialization in Europe: The Case of Council Officials
- 5 The Janus Face of Brussels: Socialization and Everyday Decision Making in the European Union
- 6 Security Institutions as Agents of Socialization? NATO and the ‘New Europe’
- Part III Critique, Conclusions, and Extensions
- Index
- References
Summary
To what extent can an international organization socialize those who work within it? In order for international institutions in Europe to socialize states and state agents into international norms, they must themselves emanate these norms. But can one simply presume that the people who work within international organizations share international norms, and if so, what are the causal mechanisms?
The Commission of the European Union (hereafter the European Commission) is a crucial case for examining socialization within an international organization. Crucial cases “offer valuable tests because they are strongly expected to confirm or disconfirm prior hypotheses.” Compared with other international organizations in Europe, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or the Council of Europe, the European Commission is extraordinarily autonomous and powerful, and this, socialization theory predicts, should make it the most likely site for socialization. The European Commission is the steering body of the world's most encompassing supranational regime. It has a vocation to identify and defend the European interest over and above—and if need be, against—particular national interests. It is the agenda setter in the European Union (EU). It also has the authority to select and groom its employees with minimal national interference. So there are strong reasons to expect international socialization to be effective in the European Commission. If this powerful body cannot shape its employees' preferences, which international organization can?
How can one make sense of top Commission officials' support for, or opposition to, the European Commission's core norms?
- Type
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- Information
- International Institutions and Socialization in Europe , pp. 63 - 98Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007
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