Policy Communities and Regulatory Networks

The paper is concerned with explaining which role policy communities and regulatory networks play in EU policy making today. More specifically, it seeks to provide working definitions for the concepts of ‘policy communities’ and ‘regulatory networks’ in the post-crisis European Union. The idea of communities and networks in policy and regulatory affairs has been developed to reflect how “networked governance” has become a key aspect of today’s politics alongside hierarchical government structures. Thus, communities and networks serve to highlight how hybrid and flexible policy actors are operating along formal/informal, and public/private dimensions, as well as across different levels of governance. While useful as analytical devices to describe the plethora of atypical governance arrangements, how useful are they when we endeavour to explain and understand governance and politics today? It will show that the answer depends on what binds communities together along various dimensions: shared knowledge, common interests, the collective adoption of a scientific paradigm, the adherence to particular norms or visions for the future, or a combination of the above. Furthermore, the role of these actors also depends on how they are positioned within regulatory network structures. A final dimension is that the role of policy communities and networks is contingent on whether these are spaces within which dissent, controversy, and deliberation are tolerated or negotiated, and the extent to which they serve to politicize or depoliticize particular issues. The paper will argue that precision about the content of policy communities and regulatory networks ensures their enduring relevance.