Why study the EUs institutions

1
Why study the EUs institutions?

• A definition (What do we mean by
  institutions?)
• The neoinstitutional perspective on European
  integration and politics
• The importance of institutions in the European
  Union

2
What do we mean by institutions?

• The neoinstitutional approach More than the
  detailed description of formal structures of
  government and systems of law-making.
• DefinitionInstitutions are to be conceived as
  arenas where power and influence are exercised,
  and as a set of rules and practices that
  influence and constitute human behavior (cf.
  Peterson/ Shackleton 2002, 3).

3
The neoinstitutional perspective on European
integration and politics

• An alternative to state-centric or
  inter-governmental approaches derived from the
  study of international relationsThe EU is not
  dominated by policy debates between national
  actors pursuing national interests.
• But EU politics has to be understood in terms
  of institutional competition, above all, between
  the Council of Ministers, the European
  Commission, and the European Parliament(cf.
  Peterson/ Shackleton 2002, 6) .

4
The importance of institutions in the European
Union

• The EUs institutions are fundamentally
  experimental.
• They manage the enormous interdependence that
  binds together ist member governments.
• They possess rational-legal authority to make
  rules, and they also create social knowledge.
• They link Europe to the world of international
  politics and especially to the extensive network
  of International Organizations (WTO, UN, G8 etc.).