The Lisbon Agenda and the Transformations in European Governance

Short description:

Prerequisite/progression of the course

In depth knowledge of the relevant domains is not required but the participants are expected to possess an academic interest in relevant issues such as contemporary approaches to capitalism dynamics and European/national institutional governance. Participants are required to read the reading material before the course. After each session, it will be asked to the audience to use the concepts, theories and results in order to understand European institution building and economic policy of member States.

Lecturers: Professor Susana Borras and Robert BOYER Senior Researcher at CEPREMAP (Paris) and GREDEG (Sophia-Antipolis), currently invited Professor at Center For Business and Politics, Copenhagen Business School

Faculty
Robert BOYER Senior Researcher at CEPREMAP (Paris) and GREDEG (Sophia-Antipolis), currently invited Professor at Center For Business and Politics, Copenhagen Business School

Course Coordinator
Robert BOYER Senior Researcher at CEPREMAP (Paris) and GREDEG (Sophia-Antipolis), currently invited Professor at Center For Business and Politics, Copenhagen Business School

Prerequisite/progression of the course

In depth knowledge of the relevant domains is not required but the participants are expected to possess an academic interest in relevant issues such as contemporary approaches to capitalism dynamics and European/national institutional governance. Participants are required to read the reading material before the course. After each session, it will be asked to the audience to use the concepts, theories and results in order to understand European institution building and economic policy of member States.

Aim of the course

The overall goals are the following.

Firstly to present the Lisbon Agenda in the light of the history of European integration, and mix institutional and historical analyses along with a macroeconomic approach to European growth.

Secondly to review the literature on the diversity of capitalisms with a special concern to Social System of Innovation (SSI) and the consequences of this diversity upon common European policies.

Thirdly to study the evolution of European governance after the Lisbon strategy, the invention of Open Method of Coordination and its reform.

Finally to assess the viability of this European governance in the context of the subprime crisis and its aftermath.

Hopefully the participants should be able to understand better the complexities of European affairs and use accordingly various disciplines (political economy, innovation studies, organizational and institutional approaches�)

Course content, structure and teaching

The content of the course is divided in seven sessions:

1st day morning:

Lecture 1: The Lisbon Agenda: A Historical Perspective of European Integration

What was new with respect to the Single Market and the launching of the Euro? A diagnosis of the economic weaknesses of Europe in the era of globalization and the transition to a knowledge based economy. What kind of implicit political compromise between previously contradictory approaches: restoring competitiveness and reforming welfare?

Readings:

Robert Boyer: �The impact of the single market on labour and employment. A discussion of macro-economic approaches in the light of research in labour economics�, Labour and Society, Vol. 15, n° 2, 1990, p. 109-142.

Robert Boyer: �The Unanticipated fallout of European Monetary Union: The Political and Institutional Deficits of the Euro�, Colin Crouch After the Euro, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000, p. 24-88.

Maria Joao Rodrigues (ed.): The new Knowledge Economy in Europe. A strategy for international competitiveness with social cohesion, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, and Northampton, MA, USA, 2002 (chapters 1 and 2), p. 1-53.

Lecture 2: The Lisbon Agenda as Governance Architecture in the European Union

What is the Lisbon Agenda a case of, when looking into the European Integration process? Looking at the Lisbon Agenda as a Governance Architecture, we can examine questions of how it was created, maintained and adapted through time, and what impact does it have in terms of power arenas in the daily life of European Union politics.

Readings:

Susana Borras and Claudio M. Radaelli: �The Politics of Governance Architectures: Institutions, Power, and Public Policy in the EU Lisbon Strategy�, Journal of European Public Policy, to appear 2010.

1st day, afternoon

Lecture 3: The Policy Outcomes and Political Changes of the Lisbon Agenda.

Why have the outcomes of the Lisbon Agenda been rather disappointing? How has the configuration of the Lisbon Strategy evolved after the mid-term assessment by the independent Kok report?

Readings

Jean Pisani-Ferry, Sapir André, Last exit to Lisbon, Bruegel Policy Brief, March 2006.

Robert Boyer: « The Lisbon Strategy: merits, difficulties and possible reforms », in Marie Joao Rodrigues, Europe, Globalization and Lisbon Agenda, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham UK, Northampton (MA), 2009, p. 149-

Lecture 4: The Open Method of Coordination (OMC): The Conditions for Coordination and Learning

Under what conditions do processes of policy coordination and policy learning take place? What are the theoretical and methodological issues concerning the policy effects of the Open Method of Coordination? What is policy coordination after all in the context of European Union political economy?

Readings:

Borrás, Susana and Jacobsson, Kerstin (2004): �The Open Method of Coordination and the New Governance Patterns in the EU� in Journal of European Public Policy vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 185-208.

Bennett, C. J. and M. Howlett (1992). "The lessons of learning: Reconciling theories of policy learning and policy change " Policy Sciences 25(3): 275-29.

Braun, D. (2008). "Organising the political coordination of knowledge and innovation policies." Science and Public Policy 35: 227-239.

2nd day, morning:

Lecture 5: The diversity of national systems of innovation and varieties of capitalism.

A synthetic approach to the diversity of capitalisms. The coexistence of at least three forms of capitalism in Europe. The example of social systems of innovation and labour market institutions. What consequences for innovation policies at the EU level?

Reading

Bruno Amable: The Diversity of Capitalisms, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003, chapter 1, p. 1-25 ; chapter 5, p. 171-224.

Robert Boyer: « New growth regimes, but still institutional diversity », Socio-Economic Review, vol. 2, n° 1, 2004, p. 1-32.

2nd day, morning:

Lecture 6: The Diversity of Knowledge and Innovation Policies in Europe: Coordination With or Without One Size Fitting All?

The diversity of national systems of innovation and of knowledge production is linked with the diversified forms of innovation and knowledge policies at the national level. How is policy change taking place? What are there any empirical evidences of policy learning and policy coordination?

Readings:

Biegelbauer, P. and Borrás S. (Editors) (2003): �Introduction� in Innovation Policies in Europe and the US: The New Agenda Aldershot: Ashgate.

Lisbon Expert Group (2009): "The Open Method of Coordination in Research Policy. Assessment and Recommendations" Report for the European Commission. Susana Borrás rapporteur. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/invest-in-research/pdf/download_en/eur_23874_texte_web.pdf

Gornitzka, Åse (2005): Coordinating policies for a "Europe of knowledge" - Emerging practices of the "Open Method of Coordination" in education and research. ARENA working paper 05/16 Available at: http://www.arena.uio.no/publications/working-papers2005/papers/05_16.xml

2nd day, afternoon:

Lecture 7: The Future of the European Union after the subprime crisis: The Lisbon Agenda after 2010

From the Lisbon strategy to the Lisbon treaty. Why the EU has not become the most competitive zone in the world economy. The reaction of governments and European Union after the subprime crisis. Are there clear dividing lines between national and European competences: comparing the responses of public good theory, jurisprudence and political economy?

Readings:

Robert Boyer, Mario Dehove, Political Goals, Legal Norms and Public Goods: The building Blocks of Europe?, Prisme n° 8, Cournot Centre for Economic Studies, Paris, November 2006. http://www.centrecournot.org/prismepdf/Prisme_8_EN.pdf

James Jackson,�The Financial Crisis: Impact on and Response by The European Union� Congressional Research Service, June 24, 2009

Maria J. Rodrigues, Europe, globalisation and the Lisbon Agenda, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK, and Northampton, MA, USA, 2009 pages 1-17.

Learning Objectives

• To enhance the participants� understanding of the complexities of European affairs.
• To enable the participants to address and analyze European affairs from a multidisciplinary perspective.
• To provide participants with a critical grasp of European governance.

Lecture plan

The teaching style will be marked by a combination of a synthetic lecture summarizing various research programs, the open discussion of this material by participants and the immediate use of the related concepts and methods.

Course literature

See course content