Inter-organisational Negotiations in Political Decision-making: Brussels’ EC Bureaucrats and the Environment

Abstract

In recent years, environmentalism has gained momentum stimulating a heightened receptiveness of environmental themes among elected officials, and resulting in more stringent laws and regulations. Environmentalism, as an extensive concern, is now solidly embedded in the institutional realm, while it still manifests the traits of a social movement. The central EC1 political and administrative decision-making centres are crucial in this regulative process. European Institutions2 are, therefore, becoming the target of much attention from business and political actors with a direct interest in environmental issues. In this context, this paper examines which models best describe decision-making processes in the European Community.