Rooted Implementation - The Practical Implementation of EU Policy through Cooperative Society

Abstract

Despite an abundant literature on policy implementation, there has hardly been any systematic cross-national and cross-sectional research focusing on implementation of supranational policies in both law and practice. The first part of this dissertation is a first attempt to analyse the relationship between legal and practical implementation and the causes for decoupling implementation of EU directives in practice in 27 member states across four policy areas. To study how EU policy can take root in society, further analysis focuses on the conditions under which a cooperative and engaged civil society can improve implementation on the ground. The findings show that civil society strength can positively affect practical implementation if civil society organizations are regularly consulted and states have the bureaucratic capacity to cope with societal demands. The second part of the dissertation takes a network approach to analyse the role of civil society as a watchdog and their capacity to monitor the implementation process. The comparative case study on networks of women’s groups across EU members states in monitoring the implementation of EU directives on gender equality reveals that civil society in western member states tend to be better equipped, while in CEE member states the direct links with the EU Commission compensate this lack of resources. Finally, using inferential social network analysis in a case study on the monitoring network of women groups in the Netherlands, the findings of this dissertation demonstrate that effective information exchange for monitoring purposes benefits from a diverse and inclusive network.