European Civil Service in (Times of) Crisis

This book, part of the new wave of political sociology in EU studies, examines the dialectics of construction/deconstruction of the European civil service through a succession of empirically grounded case studies. Breaking with the usual representations of 'Eurocrats', it sheds light on a hidden aspect of the current European crisis: a crisis of social reproduction which affects the European civil service in a heavy context of management reforms, enlargements, institutional changes and the euro crisis. This in turn has a number of consequences in terms of internal tensions, power, and more broadly, the capacity of EU institutions to create convergence between diverging national and economic interests, and to embody a European future.

European Civil Service in (Times of) Crisis will be of interest to students and scholars across a wide range of disciplines, including politics, sociology and public administration, to practitioners working in and with the EU institutions,as well as those wishing to know more about the EU.

Uses field theory to reframe debates concerning European power Contains a varied and rich empirical grounding Combines quantitative and qualitative methodologies

Autorentext

Didier Georgakakis is Professor of Political Science at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France and Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, Belgium. He is co-editor of The Field of Eurocracy (Palgrave, 2013).

Inhalt

Introduction: Moving pictures.- 1. A contested identity: genesis of the Eurocrat figure: between stigma and affirmation of a differentiated supranational body.- 2. The making of a status group: Reconsidering socialization to the European Institutions .- 3. Genesis and structure of European bureaucratic capital: Senior European Commission officials.- 4. Soft skills versus expertise and knowledge: The changing core competencies of European civil servants.- 5. Reforming EU open competitions or how the 'Custodians of Europe' are now imitating undifferentiated international managers.- 6. How domination matters: New internal struggles and integrating European-enlargement newcomers.- 7. Both the pilot and a victim of austerity? How the European Commission's administration changed under the economic and financial crisis.-Conclusion: Neoliberalized neoliberalists? The weakening sociological foundations of a pivot group and European political order.