State weakness has come to be recognized as a key problem for the transformations in a number of Eastern European countries, particularly those East and South of enlargement. This paper addresses the issue firstly by asking how state capacity can be assessed and observed empirically, and...

Normative discourses on the European institutional set-up have paid attention to both vertical and horizontal decentralism. Decentralism refers to the respect of the autonomy of lower or smaller decision-making levels, the procedures privileging these decision-making levels (subsidiarity), and...

In technically complex areas, political actors increasingly rely on private actors to shape public policy. This is due to the greater expertise of the private actors, mostly industry. This article theorizes and empirically investigates the conditions under which self-regulation by industry...