Europeanisation and domestic change: a governance approach to institutional adaptation in Britain

Abstract

Europeanisation studies reveal considerable variation in the impact of the EU on its member states, emphasising the mediating effect of domestic institutions. In this context, this paper argues for an approach to Europeanisation linked to the analytical lenses of historical and sociological institutionalism, which ensure sensitivity to deeply embedded domestic norms and modes of governance. In order further to understand the impact of Europeanisation on British politics and policy-making, the paper also draws on domestic neo-institutionalist analysis, which we describe as the British Governance Approach to provide a counterpoint to the once dominant but increasingly challenged organising perspective provided by the Westminster Model (WM). The essential conceptual argument is that to understand Europeanisation in terms of domestic institutional adaptation to the EU requires an approach that is sensitive to the particular domestic institutional configuration being studied. This argument is illustrated by drawing hypotheses from institutionalist contributions to the separate literatures on Europeanisation and British politics and testing these hypotheses empirically in relation to the impact of the EU on aspects of subnational governance.