A Zeal for a Zeal? SME Policy and the Political Economy of the EU

Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between the emerging characteristics of the European Union (EU) as a polity and its policies on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Social compromises with the petit bourgeoisie were central to the stability of 19th century European democracies, predating many of the institutional compromises that embedded capitalism into the modern national states. As the EU has moved away from managing national interests through integrationist institutions, and pursued the more democratic credentials of good governance in the open method of coordination, it has followed a pattern of policy making that closely follows that of the EU's SME policy. After demonstrating these parallels, the paper explores the methodological problems of a comparative analysis of SME policy and then explains how the definitional opacity of the SME has given the EU great scope to embed its policies through SME policy.