The Politics of Time: The Temporality of EU Enlargement and Europeanisation
Final Report Abstract
In political science, as in other disciplines, the notion of ‘time’ is central to the understanding of all kinds of decision-making processes. However, it is difficult to assign time a specific role. Things do not happen just because some time has elapsed; there is generally an underlying mechanism that leads to one or the other event. As noted in Meyer-Sahling and Goetz (2009) time is seemingly 'everywhere' and has, therefore, mostly remained a diffuse and almost obscure concept. Nevertheless, it has been acknowledged scientifically and practically, politicians need to have some sensitivity for the timing of statements and decisions. This DFG project has targeted ‘political time’ and ‘temporality’ in order to propose a more structured and coherent approach to the topic; in doing so, it seeks to add explanatory leverage to the understanding of political decision-making in general. The basic assumption is that systematically including time into our analyses provides a new perspective on political activity and sheds more light on strategic policymaking. The ‘Politics of Time’ project has been accomplished in two phases. Phase I conceptualised the research question and developed a consistent theoretical stance on political time. The 'timescape' approach involves regularities in the institutionalisation of political time across the 'polity', the 'politics' and 'policy' dimension with a focus on actors' mandates, time budgets and time horizons (polity dimension), time rules relating to timing, sequencing, speed and duration (politics dimension), and the temporal properties of EU policies (policy dimension). Theoretically, the project adopts the approach of actor-centred institutionalism. This entails a core innovation: time is understood being an institution that organises and structures a political system just like voting rules or the distribution of veto-power. Developing this idea further, the institution of time has important power implications as political actors can use time as a resource that helps them to implement personal preferences. So, combining both notions of time – being an institution that grants political resources - explains best how it affects the distribution of power and therewith the outcome of political activity. Phase II applied the concept to the three primary political institutions of the EU – the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission. The first measure was to identify the time rules and regularities on the dimensions 'polity' and 'politics'. Subsequently, these rules were related to each other. According to the theoretical perspective it has first been asked if one or the other institution has a power advantage that is due to temporal resources or discretion. Equally, the intrainstitutional perspective has compared the temporal assets of political actors within the institutions. The last part of Phase II chose the enlargement policy to illustrate how time as an institution and as a power resource has shaped enlargement governance and what its effects have been at the level of states seeking EU membership. It therefore covers the 'policy' dimension and completes the project. The Politics of Time project focused on the theoretical basis of analysis in greater detail than initially envisaged. This seemed to be justified because the theoretical and conceptual basis to capture political time as an own factor in EU-politics was largely underdeveloped and needed important clarification.
Publications
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(2009). ‘Do elections set the pace? A quantitative assessment of the timing of European legislation’. Journal of European Public Policy, 16 (2): 239-255
Kovats, L.
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(2009). ‘How does the EU tick? Five propositions on political time’. Journal of European Public Policy, 16 (2): 202 - 220
Goetz, K. H.
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(2009). ‘Policies, institutions and time: The European Commission as time-setter in EU Eastern enlargement policy’. Journal of European Public Policy, 16 (2): 270-285
Lass-Lennecke, K. / Werner, A.
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(2009). ‘Political time in the EU: dimensions, perspectives, theories’. Journal of European Public Policy, 16 (2): 180-201
Goetz, K. H. / Meyer-Sahling, J.-H.
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(2010). The temporal dimension. In: K. Dyson / A. Sepos (eds.) Which Europe? The politics of differentiated integration, Basingstoke: Palgrave, 67-81
Goetz, K. H.
