European Union Public Policy
                                       Professor John Wilton

                                             Lecture 6
   Policy formulation 2: policy-making uncertainty, expertise and epistemic communities, multiple
                                       policy-making ‘venues’

                                    European Union Public Policy
                                             Lecture 6

Other aspects of E.U. public policy-making (to ‘graft on’ to policy networks model?)

•             E.U. public policy-making uncertainty;

•             expertise and epistemic communities;

•             The ‘ multiple policy-making venues’ of E.U. public policy

                                    European Union Public Policy
                                             Lecture 6

 1. E.U. public policy-making uncertainty

          - the uncertain identity of other policy              ‘actors’

          - the problem of the size of the E.U. –              27 member states

                                    European Union Public Policy
                                             Lecture 6

Policy networks will have:

-             A variety of inconsistent and ill defined     preferences – a loose collection of
ideas;

-             (it will have) to operate in extremely complex and complicated E.U. organisational
structures;

-             (it will have) ‘fluid’ participants within it (with varied time and effort)

                                    European Union Public Policy
                                             Lecture 6

2. Expertise and epistemic communities

      - a network of professionals with      recognised expertise and competence in  a particular
policy area, who have an   authoritative claim to policy-relevant    knowledge within that policy
area.



                                    European Union Public Policy
                                             Lecture 6

      “members of an epistemic community share intersubjective understandings, have a shared way of
knowing, have shared patterns of reasoning, have a policy project drawing on shared values, share
causal beliefs, and the use of discursive practices, and have a shared commitment to the application
and production of knowledge”

                (Haas, P. (1992) ‘Introduction: Epistemic Communities and         International
Policy Co-ordination’, in International   Organisation, 46/1, p.3.)



                                    European Union Public Policy
                                             Lecture 6

                “members of an epistemic community share intersubjective understandings (common
knowledge about policy area), have a shared way of knowing (common sources to gain that knowledge),
have shared patterns of reasoning (common forms of analysis), have a policy project drawing on
shared values, share causal beliefs (common values and beliefs), and the use of discursive practices
(common belief in discussion and debate), and have a shared commitment to the application and
production of knowledge (common commitment to investigation and application of information on policy
area)”

                        (Haas, P. (1992) ‘Introduction: Epistemic Communities and International
Policy Co-ordination’, in International Organisation, 46/1, p.3.)



                                    European Union Public Policy
                                             Lecture 6

Factors contributing to E.U. public policy makers using experts and epistemic communities

•             The dynamics of uncertainty in policy formulation;

•             The need for specialist interpretation of information/knowledge;

•             Institutionalisation of information and knowledge (in E.U. bureaucracy)

                                    European Union Public Policy
                                             Lecture 6

-E.U. policy makers seek to reduce policy        outcome uncertainty

- political factors

          - i.e. E.U. Commission ‘self-interest’                 and policy preferences – seeks to 
             build policy coalitions for own policy     preferences

                                    European Union Public Policy
                                             Lecture 6

3. Multiple policy-making ‘venues’

      - E.U. public policy-making is a        collective exercise involving large           numbers
of participants in often    intermittent and   unpredictable      relationships = many venues and   
arenas in which public policy is      formulated

                                    European Union Public Policy
                                             Lecture 6

Multiple sources and venues for E.U. public policy formulation has led to:

•             The construction of complex transnational public policy coalitions;

•             Public policy actors and stakeholders being more focused on the E.U. rather than
national member state governments;

•             Different form of multiple access points for policy actors and stakeholders, compared
to public policy systems of member states





                                    European Union Public Policy
                                             Lecture 6

-             E.U. public policy-making not just characterised by multi-access venues, but is also a
‘fluid’ policy formulation system and process – as E.U. constantly changing and evolving.

-             INTERGOVERNMENTALISM

      - member nation-states (and national governments of those states) trying to act firstly in
either the national interest or their own political interest