Variations on a Theme. Governing the Knowledge‐Based Society in the EU through Methods of Open Coordination in Education and R&D

Abstract

This article focuses on one of the more elaborate new modes of governance in function in the EU context — the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) — and examines its varying degree of institutionalization on policy fields. Three explanations for differences in institutionalization of OMCs are tested through a comparative study of two OMCs adopted in policy fields related with the knowledge‐based society theme. The empirical findings indicate that the institutionalization of an OMC can be best explained by a particular constellation of member‐state preferences, in combination with a catalytic role of the European Commission.

Key Words:

• European Union
• multilateral surveillance
• Open Method of Coordination
• education
• research and development

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank the anonymous referees for extensive and valuable comments that improved the paper considerably.

Notes

1. The OMC was strongly inspired by the Luxembourg process, designed in 1997 to establish the European Employment Strategy (EES).

2. The term ‘institutionalization’ is used as a synonym for the degree of development of the institutional infrastructure of the OMC, i.e. the presence, respectively absence in an OMC of guidelines or objectives, indicators and benchmarks, reporting (i.e. joint reports of the Council and Commission, NAPs, NRPs) and peer learning groups. See Selznick (1996) for different uses of the term ‘institutionalization’ in the social sciences.

3. Interview #1 with the European Commission, 2005.

4. Interview #3 with the European Commission, 2005.

5. Interview #2 with the European Commission, 2005.

6. Interview #1 with the European Commission, 2005 and #1 with the national Ministry of Education and Sciences, 2008.

7. Interview #2 with the European Commission, 2005 and #2 with the national Ministry of Education and Sciences, 2008.

8. Interview #1 with the European Commission, 2005 and #1 with the national Ministry of Education and Sciences, 2008.

9. Interview #1 with the national Ministry of Education and Sciences, 2008.

10. Interviews #1, #2 with the European Commission, 2005.

11. Interview #1 with the national Ministry of Education and Sciences, 2008.

12. Ibid.

13. Ibid.

14. Interview #3 with the European Commission, 2005.

15. Interview #1 with the national Ministry of Education and Sciences, 2008.

16. Ibid.

17. Interview #2 with the national Ministry of Education and Sciences, 2008.

18. The Framework Programme is the EU’s main instrument for encouraging collaborative and transnational research, development and innovation in science, engineering and technology. The seventh Framework Programme covers the period from 2007 to 2013.

19. Interview #3 with the national Ministry of Education and Sciences, 2008.

20. Interview #6 with the European Commission, 2005.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid.

23. The six countries are: The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Lithuania, France, and Estonia.

24. Interview #1 with CREST, 2008.

25. Interview #3 with the national Ministry of Education and Sciences, 2008.

26. Interview #5 with the European Commission, 2005.

27. Interview #3 with the national Ministry of Education and Sciences, 2008.

28. Interview #5 with the European Commission, 2005.

29. Ibid.

30. Interviews #6, #7 with the European Commission, 2005.

31. Interview #3 with the national Ministry of Education and Sciences, 2008.

32. Interview #7 with the European Commission, 2005.

33. Interview #8 with the European Commission, 2005.

34. Interview #7 with the European Commission, 2005.

35. Interview #5 with the European Commission, 2005 and #3 with the national Ministry of Education and Sciences, 2008.

36. Interview #6 with the European Commission, 2005.

37. Interview #4 with the European Commission, 2005.

38. Interviews #1, #3 national Ministry of Education and Sciences, 2008.

39. Interview #1 with CREST, 2008.