The European Commission and European Technology Platforms : managing knowledge and expertise in the development of research and technology policy

Abstract

This thesis provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of European Technology Platforms (ETPs) and the important and interesting questions their emergence and impact raises about the nature and character of policymaking and governance in the EU; in particular, the role of knowledge and expertise in policymaking and the emerging threat of technocratic models of governance. The thesis seeks to examine whether ETPs are a manifestation of technocratic forms of policymaking, or represent a mechanism for assisting the European Commission to manage and control the increasing need for knowledge and expertise in policy formulation. The theoretical analysis focuses on policymaking approaches that place stakeholders, knowledge and expertise at the epicentre of policymaking (policy networks, epistemic communities, advocacy coalitions and technocracy) and the emergence of counter arguments that emphasize the complex interrelationship between institutions and actors in the process (new institutionalism). It examines whether either of these competing approaches can accurately describe and explain the role of ETPs in policymaking. The empirical analysis questions whether ETPs form part of a well‐established knowledge process that has evolved out of the unique institutional architecture of the EU manifested in what has been described as the ‘Community Method’ based on the legacy of Jean Monnet. The thesis finds that through the development of ETPs the Commission has developed an effective mechanism for gathering the necessary knowledge, expertise and stakeholder support on which to legitimise policy proposals and shape member state preference. Furthermore, through ETPs, the Commission is able mobilise competing stakeholder interests within a deliberative policy forum to provide an effective safeguard against expert domination in the highly complex and technical areas of policy that have become the cornerstone of a modern knowledge‐based economy.