European Integration and Path Dependence: Explaining the Evolution of EU Social Policy

Dimitris Tsarouhas
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Dimitris Tsarouhas: Department of International Relations, Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara

European Political Economy Review, 2005, vol. 3, issue Winter, 87-111

Abstract: This paper argues that explaining the development of EU social policy requires an understanding of the role of European business. It asserts that EU social policy remains dependent on the willingness of economic actors, centred on the European Roundtable of Industrialists and UNICE, to facilitate steps towards a more cohesive social policy framework. The paper shows the path dependent nature of the EU integration process and the limited ability of European trade unions to reach far-reaching agreements with employers on the basis of the latterÕs powerful position as the instigator of the EUÕs revival in the 1980s.

Keywords: business interests; European integration; institutions; social policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F53 M14 M21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:epe:journl:v:3:y:2005-2006:i:winter:p:87-111

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