European Governance – Negotiation and Competition in the

This paper argues that the EU is not as unique a governance system as the Babylonian variety of its labels may suggest. Like its member states, the EU features a combination of different forms of governance that cover the entire range between market and hierarchy. Unlike at the national level, however, this governance mix entails hardly any network forms of governance, which systematically involve private actors. The EU is largely governed by negotiated agreements between inter- and transgovernmental actors. While business, interest groups or civil society organizations are seldom granted a real say in EU policy-making, market-based mechanisms of political competition have gained importance. Thus, the EU is less characterized by network governance but by inter- and transgovernmental negotiations, on the one hand, and political competition between member states and regions, on the other. Both operate in shadow of hierarchy cast by supranational institutions. 1. Introduction1 This paper explores the nature of European Governance. It is often argued in the literatur