EU cohesion policy and multi-level governance outcomes in Ireland: How sustainable is Europeanization?

Abstract:

This paper presents a study of the Irish experience of EU cohesion policy, with a view to exploring what the Irish case can tell us about the conditionality of state’s adaptation to EU policy values and practice. Using Bache’s (2008) framework for the analysis of Europeanization, Multi-Level Governance and Cohesion policy, the paper finds that Europeanization has resulted in a reorientation of domestic policies, practices and preferences in the Irish case, but the consequence has been the creation of Multi-Level Governance Type II not I (Börzel and Risse, 2003). The governance changes that have occurred have been ad hoc and messy, and central government’s response to them has been short-termist and financially expedient. This raises concerns about the sustainability of knowledge transfer impacts from Irish Multi-Level Governance and partnership projects within the formal system of Irish government. More generally, it suggests that if the desired impacts of EU Cohesion policy are to be sustainable in the longer-term, more attention needs to be given to effectively measuring and explaining EU policy influence, so that we might begin to understand how it can be supported and sustained in a variety of state contexts.