Discrete dialogues and the legitimation of EU SME policy

This article investigates the problem of legitimation in the European Union (EU) through an examination of EU small and medium sized enterprise (SME) policy. While SMEs are broadly perceived to be central to the prosperity of the EU, by definition they are anomalous to the economic order upon which the EU was established. The development of EU SME policy has therefore been the construction of a policy in a hostile political environment. Beetham's legitimation of power is used to identify discrete dialogues of rules, representations and beliefs, which help to map the development of the policy. These discrete dialogues highlight the tensions that arose during the institutionalization of the policy. The method employs different strands of institutional analysis to unpack systemic bias and so reveal specific failures of the EU to accommodate SMEs. In addition to describing the key characteristics of SME policy, the article also introduces a framework for policy analysis that combines sociological conceptions of legitimacy with constructivist approaches to the EU.