Two Worlds of Europeanisation - Unpacking Models of Government Innovation and Transgovernmental Imitation

Whereas domestic public policy is increasingly penetrated by international organisations, domestic government institutions seem less adaptive. This puzzle triggers the following question: To what extent is the Europeanisation of domestic Research and Higher Educational policy (R&E policy) crafted by domestic government? Put more starkly, how intimate relationships exist between domestic government decision-making and domestic policy? The rationale of this article is to unpack two supplementary models of Europeanisation. First, a model of 'Europeanisation by innovation' derived from an organisation theory perspective emphasises a tight coupling of ministerial decision-making and R&E policy. Secondly, a model of 'Europeanisation by imitation' derived from a network approach advocates a loose coupling of government decision-making and R&E policy through transgovernmental processes of imitation. Reporting from the area of R&E policy and based on survey data on civil servants in the Norwegian Ministry of Research and Education (MRE) (N = 190), this study indicates that Norwegian R&E policy has become Europeanised whilst the decision-making processes of MRE has become only moderately Europeanised. The analysis merely indicates a partial de-coupling of MRE decision-making and the Europeanisation of R&E policy. The Europeanisation of Norwegian R&E policy seems only partly steered and forged by the domestic top ministerial leadership, and partly affected by the import of policy models from international governmental organisations