The Open Method of Coordination in the European Research Area: A New Concept of Deepening Integration?
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The Open Method of Coordination in the European Research Area: A New Concept of Deepening Integration? Heiko Prangea and Robert Kaiserb a Technical University Munich, Business School, Chair for Political Science, Lothstrasse 17, D – 80335 Munich, Germany. E-mail: [email protected] b Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Geschwister-Scholl-Institute for Political Science, Chair for Comparative Politics, Oettingenstrasse 67, D — 80538 Munich, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]
New modes of governance such as the open method of coordination (OMC) have gained much attention to develop the European polity more effective and more democratic. The Lisbon European Council in 2000 and the succeeding Councils applied the OMC to several policy areas and it is now considered an important new governance mode. However, assessing a ‘lack of application’ — as compared to what the European Commission has been initially expected — in the case of the European Research Area, this article questions the method as it is currently applied as a general tool to improve effectiveness and legitimacy in European policymaking. We argue that the boundaries for applying the OMC mainly stem from the multi-level character of the policy field, the structural diversity of national innovation systems, as well as from varying system performances and their competition for resources. Our conclusions point to the conditions to enhance effectiveness and legitimacy of European Union governance — that is, to deepen integration — by open coordination. Comparative European Politics (2005) 3, 289–306. doi:10.1057/palgrave.cep.6110054 Keywords: effectiveness; legitimacy; European Research Area; innovation policy; open method of coordination; multi-level system
Introduction: the OMC as a New Concept of Deepening Integration? Propelled by challenges of globalization and enlargement, the European Union (EU) is in search of new modes of governance in order to develop the European polity in a more effective, more efficient and more democratic way (e.g., Jørgensen, 1997; Kohler-Koch and Eising, 1999; European Commission, 2001a; He´ritier, 2001a; Jachtenfuchs, 2001). New modes of governance avoid the classical form of legislation through directives and regulations as they are ‘guided by the principles of voluntarism (non-binding targets and the use of soft law), subsidiarity (measures are decided by Member States), and inclusion (the actors concerned participate in governance)’ (He´ritier, 2001b, 3). Consequently, new modes of governance are characterized by new actor
Heiko Prange and Robert Kaiser Coordination in the European Research Area
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constellations as well as new steering modes such as learning, arguing and persuasion, repetition and setting positive incentives (Bo¨rzel and Risse, 2005). Policy coordination representing such a new mode of European governance was for the first time codified in the Maastricht Treaty in the field of fiscal policy. In 1997, the application of policy coordination was further extended to economic and employmen
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