LEARNEURPATH · Transnational networks in European environmental policy – path dependent or learning?

Transnational networks in European environmental policy – path dependent or learning?

This research built on the results of the initial Marie Curie project on the origins of the environmental policy of the European Communities, and extends its scope significantly up to the Maastricht Treaty. In the original MC project the researcher was able to demonstrate that – contrary to the assumptions of the traditional state-centric historiography of European integration – informal networks of a variety of different actors coalesced to shape and institutionalise the new policy agenda. The goal of the new project was to inquire into the longer-term role of these networks. Historical institutionalist theories suggest that the early establishment of policy networks encouraged closure and institutionalisation, leading to a path dependent development of the network and policy. The project sought to test this hypothesis. Moreover, the ability of the environmental policy networks to “learn” was explored. This historical project traced networks in four contrasting areas – nature protection, anti-nuclear protest, water policy, and at the generic level of the Action Programmes, with a focus on central principles, such as the polluter pays principle. Conceptually informed by social science network analysis, the project relied on multiarchival research, published materials and oral history interviews. Findings suggest that path dependencies mattered structurally, for instance in the composition of expert groups. At the same time, with a view to effective cooperation, there is clear evidence of learning. Societal actors, such as NGOs were increasingly able to anticipate their interlocutors’ expectations. Such learning was part of their self-Europeanization. Moreover, the project placed particular emphasis on societal actors, such as NGOs, as well as international organizations as crucial players within networks and mediators of ideas. By situating observations from EU environmental policy in broader comparative and academic contexts, the main academic impact of the project was to integrate various, previously unlinked academic debates – into international-level publications: First, filling a gap in our historical knowledge about the European Union, the project systematically compared societal actors – across a number of EU policy areas – for the first time. Secondly, in an innovative attempt to link environmental and transnational history, the project juxtaposed transnational networks in anti-nuclear protest from the global to the local levels. Thus it shed new light on the ways in which transnational networks adapted to different institutional environments. Thirdly, responding to the call to decentre the EU, by situating it in the context of global and environmental history, the project compiled and edited the first comprehensive account on international organisations and environmental policy in the global twentieth century. Thus the project contributed to conceptual and empirical innovation in EU historiography. It provided new empirical temporal insights for the social science analysis of how path dependence and policy learning shaped European governance and its history. At the same time its findings alert EU scholars that the EU has always been embedded in international and societal contexts and processes. Through these research and network activities, the project boosted the fellows’ chances for a permanent position in academia.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union