Representative bureaucracy in European Union agencies

Abstract

This article provides, through the lens of the theory of representative bureaucracy, a detailed and systematic assessment of diversity regarding gender, nationality, educational qualifications and professional background among the individuals serving in the management boards and scientific committees of European Union agencies (EAs). Drawing on a novel dataset of 508 members, our findings show that these decision-making bodies are generally composed of male experts, and that their inclusiveness of nationalities seems to be related to their formal institutional design. We also find that experts generally have extensive scientific training, even in those agencies that include national representation. This finding provides tentative support for the idea that representative bureaucracies can have a high degree of specialization. Our results also demonstrate that while EAs seem to be open to experts who have worked in the private sector, these bodies show a limited inclusiveness towards individuals with experience in civil society organizations.

Treba li Europska unija upravno-politički ili političko-upravni pristup

“…Ta pitanja trebaju doprinijeti usklađivanju i harmonizaciji nacionalnih politika i njihovoj konvergenciji u zajednički upravni standard postupanja. 28 Ove politike daju najčešće odgovor na pitanje kako nešto realizirati u cilju harmonizacije međusobnih odnosa među državama članicama Unije. 29 Ovim se pitanjima bave različite Unijine upravne institucije, od Europske komisije do agencija Unije koje reguliraju pojedine segmente upravnog postupanja.…”