Governing EU employment policy: does collaborative governance scale up?

• Published in: Policy and politics Vol. 43; no. 3; pp. 331 - 347
• Main Authors: Sørensen, Eva, Triantafillou, Peter, Damgaard, Bodil
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Policy Press 01.07.2015; The Policy Press
• Subjects: Central government; Collaboration; Collaborative Governance; Cooperation; Coordination; Employment; Employment policies; Employment Policy; Governance; Implementation; Interest groups; International cooperation; EU; collaborative governance; employment policy
• ISSN: 0305-5736; 1470-8442
• DOI: 10.1332/030557315X14351553104423

In the European Union (EU), employment policy is a prerogative of the member states. Therefore the EU's ability to govern in this area depends on its capability to involve national governments and relevant stakeholders in a collaborative effort to formulate and implement shared policy objectives. Drawing an analytical distinction between cooperation, coordination and collaboration, the article analyses the formulation and implementation of EU employment policies. It concludes that while the formulation of policy objectives and the discussion of national policy approaches do involve elements of collaboration, the implementation phase mainly consists in the less demanding forms of cooperation and coordination.