European integration and the administrative state. A longitudinal study on self-reinforcing administrative bias

ABSTRACT

The study demonstrates how the EU contributes to a self-reinforcing administrative bias due to domestic-level organizational factors. Strong European integration without membership reinforces a politico-administrative gap and this gap expands over time. The paper applies an extreme case of high integration without formal EU membership represented by Norway. The findings suggest that the EU contributes to reinforce the administrative state through strong unintended assimilation effects. The findings are probed by a novel and comprehensive longitudinal data-set consisting of a large-N single case (N = 3562) questionnaire study among government officials at three points in the Norwegian central administration: 1996, 2006 and 2016. Theoretically, the paper examines the role of organizational factors in administrative integration and how the impact of the EU is mediated by organizational variables at the national level.

KEYWORDS:

• Administrative integration
• administrative state
• central administration
• Norway
• organizational approach

Acknowledgements

This contribution is financially supported by the Norwegian Research Council (‘EURODIV: Integration and division: Towards a segmented Europe’). Previous versions of the paper have been presented at the European Union Studies Association 4–6 May, Miami, Florida, and at the European Group of Public Administration 30 August – 1 September 2017, Milan, Italy. The authors acknowledge valuable comments from participants at both conferences, three anonymous reviewers, and Jeremy Richardson.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Includes all employees in ministries and subordinate units. For full list, see https://www.difi.no/rapporter-og-statistikk/nokkeltall-og-statistikk/ansatte-i-staten#4817.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nadja Kühn

Nadja Kühn is a PhD candidate at University of Agder, Department of Political Science and Management.

Jarle Trondal

Jarle Trondal is Professor of Public Administration at the University of Agder, Department of Political Science and Management, and Professor of European Studies at the University of Oslo, ARENA Centre for European Studies.