European Civil Service in (Times of) Crisis: A Political Sociology of the Changing Power of Eurocrats (Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology)

"This book, part of the new wave of political sociology in EU studies, examines the dialectics of construction/deconstruction of the European civil service through a succession of empirically grounded case studies. Breaking with the usual representations of ‘Eurocrats’, it sheds light on a hidden aspect of the current European crisis: a crisis of social reproduction which affects the European civil service in a heavy context of management reforms, enlargements, institutional changes and the euro crisis. This in turn has a number of consequences in terms of internal tensions, power, and more broadly, the capacity of EU institutions to create convergence between diverging national and economic interests, and to embody a European future.European Civil Service in (Times of) Crisis will be of interest to students and scholars across a wide range of disciplines, including politics, sociology and public administration, to practitioners working in and with the EU institutions, as well as those wishing to know more about the EU. "-- Read more... Abstract: "This book, part of the new wave of political sociology in EU studies, examines the dialectics of construction/deconstruction of the European civil service through a succession of empirically grounded case studies. Breaking with the usual representations of ‘Eurocrats’, it sheds light on a hidden aspect of the current European crisis: a crisis of social reproduction which affects the European civil service in a heavy context of management reforms, enlargements, institutional changes and the euro crisis. This in turn has a number of consequences in terms of internal tensions, power, and more broadly, the capacity of EU institutions to create convergence between diverging national and economic interests, and to embody a European future.European Civil Service in (Times of) Crisis will be of interest to students and scholars across a wide range of disciplines, including politics, sociology and public administration, to practitioners working in and with the EU institutions, as well as those wishing to know more about the EU. " European Civil Service in (Times of) Crisis 4 Acknowledgements 7 Contents 9 List of Figures 11 List of Tables 12 1 Introduction: Moving Pictures 13 Another Crisis 15 The Politics of Forming a European Body 20 Studying a Changing Power 25 Outline 31 2 A Contested Identity: Genesis of the Eurocrat Figure – Between Stigma and Affirmation of a Differentiated Supranational Body 34 Denouncing the Eurocrats and Institutionalizing ‘Resistances’ to Supranationality 37 Reflection of a Risk 38 An Instrument to Open Political Opportunities 41 European Oracles Versus European Technocrats 46 On the Euro-Functionary Side:Inverting the Stigma and Stylizing the Group 49 Eurocracy in Practice 51 Eurocracy as a Style 54 3 The Making of a Status Group: Reconsidering Socialization to the European Institutions 64 A Status Group, or European Civil Servants as a Social Group 66 Institutional Production of a Social Position 74 Institutional Production of an Ethos of European Public Service 80 Why Habitus Matters or What It Means to Become ‘European’ 94 4 Genesis and Structure of European Bureaucratic Capital: Senior European Commission Officials 103 Genesis of a European Institutional Capital 106 Building a Body and Denationalizing the Habitus 107 A Compliant Morphology 112 Differentiation of Specific Symbolic Capital 117 The Space of Senior European Civil Service and Distribution of Institutional Capital 122 The Commission as a Bipolar Social Structure 123 Trend Inversion in the Hierarchies 131 Weight within the Structure and Personal Inclination 139 Methodological Appendix 142 Calculated Variables 143 Indicators of Career Prior to Appointment 143 Principal Component Analysis (PCA) 144 PCA Standard Data 144 Factorial Design 146 Illustrative variables 147 Classification 151 5 Soft Skills Versus Expertise and Knowledge: The Changing Core Competencies of European Civil Servants 152 Core Competencies at Stake 158 Practice Versus Theory? Modern Versus Old? 161 The Stakes Involved in Redefining the Social Competency of European Functionaries 166 Objectification of Competency, Break with the Founding Ambiguity and Reversal of the Group’s Collective Trajectory 173 The Ambivalences of Standardization 178 6 Reforming EU Open Competitions or How the ‘Custodians of Europe’ Now Mimic International Managers 181 An Open Competition for All Seasons? 184 A Few Background Elements 185 Statutory Genesis of the Open Competition for European Civil Service: Between a Supranational Spirit and Internal Struggles 187 Beyond the Doctrine, Incremental Reforms 191 Building the Symbolic Capital and the Esprit de Corps of an Alternative Elite 193 Breaking with Social Reproduction? 204 A Radical Break 205 ‘Attracting the Best Talents’ or ‘Destroying the European Civil Service from the Inside’? 211 Conclusion 216 7 How Domination Matters: New Internal Struggles and Integrating European-Enlargement Newcomers 218 Ethnographic Observation 1, DG Translation, April 2009 219 Observation 2. Training Session at the European Administrative School (2012) 220 Observation 3. An Aside 221 A Family of Dominated Positions in the Field of Eurocracy 226 Distribution of Posts and Grades by Nationality 227 Directors from the New Countries and their Trajectory 234 Producing a Collective Status? 238 From the Prophecy to the Problem 239 Foundation of Generation 2004 and Mobilizing the Newcomers According to the Marginal-Versus-Established Prism 246 Welcome to Generation 2004 249 Tentative Conclusions: Objective Position, Represented Position and Political Standpoint 253 Appendix: Report on the Statistical Studies on the Actors of European Economic Governance (with Frédéric Lebaron) 259 8 Both the Pilot and a Victim of Austerity? How the European Commission’s Administration Changed under the Economic and Financial Crisis 262 A Review Under Constraints 265 Adjust or Dismantle: The Debate on the Latest Review 265 Staff Regulations with a History 271 The Battle for Staff Regulations and Decision-making Autonomy 274 Another Transformation: Recapitalizing the Competency of Economists 280 From the Transformation of the Bureaucratic Capital... 281 9 Conclusion: Neoliberalized Neoliberalists? The Weakening Sociological Foundations of a Pivot Group and European Political Order 291 Beyond Political Myths: Social Process and Elite Reproduction, and Battles 293 Back to Politics: The Changing Power of Eurocrats and the Changing European Union 299 References 308 Index 330 Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii Introduction: Moving Pictures (Didier Georgakakis)....Pages 1-21 A Contested Identity: Genesis of the Eurocrat Figure – Between Stigma and Affirmation of a Differentiated Supranational Body (Didier Georgakakis)....Pages 23-52 The Making of a Status Group: Reconsidering Socialization to the European Institutions (Didier Georgakakis)....Pages 53-91 Genesis and Structure of European Bureaucratic Capital: Senior European Commission Officials (Didier Georgakakis)....Pages 93-141 Soft Skills Versus Expertise and Knowledge: The Changing Core Competencies of European Civil Servants (Didier Georgakakis)....Pages 143-171 Reforming EU Open Competitions or How the ‘Custodians of Europe’ Now Mimic International Managers (Didier Georgakakis)....Pages 173-209 How Domination Matters: New Internal Struggles and Integrating European-Enlargement Newcomers (Didier Georgakakis)....Pages 211-254 Both the Pilot and a Victim of Austerity? How the European Commission’s Administration Changed under the Economic and Financial Crisis (Didier Georgakakis)....Pages 255-283 Conclusion: Neoliberalized Neoliberalists? The Weakening Sociological Foundations of a Pivot Group and European Political Order (Didier Georgakakis)....Pages 285-301 Back Matter ....Pages 303-329 "This book, part of the new wave of political sociology in EU studies, examines the dialectics of construction/deconstruction of the European civil service through a succession of empirically grounded case studies. Breaking with the usual representations of 'Eurocrats', it sheds light on a hidden aspect of the current European crisis: a crisis of social reproduction which affects the European civil service in a heavy context of management reforms, enlargements, institutional changes and the euro crisis. This in turn has a number of consequences in terms of internal tensions, power, and more broadly, the capacity of EU institutions to create convergence between diverging national and economic interests, and to embody a European future. European Civil Service in (Times of) Crisis will be of interest to students and scholars across a wide range of disciplines, including politics, sociology and public administration, to practitioners working in and with the EU institutions, as well as those wishing to know more about the EU."-- Provided by publisher "This book, part of the new wave of political sociology in EU studies, examines the dialectics of construction/deconstruction of the European civil service through a succession of empirically grounded case studies. Breaking with the usual representations of 'Eurocrats', it sheds light on a hidden aspect of the current European crisis: a crisis of social reproduction which affects the European civil service in a heavy context of management reforms, enlargements, institutional changes and the euro crisis. This in turn has a number of consequences in terms of internal tensions, power, and more broadly, the capacity of EU institutions to create convergence between diverging national and economic interests, and to embody a European future. European Civil Service in (Times of) Crisis will be of interest to students and scholars across a wide range of disciplines, including politics, sociology and public administration, to practitioners working in and with the EU institutions, as well as those wishing to know more about the EU."--Back cover Didier Georgakakis ; Translated By Marina Urquidi. Original Title Not Available. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 303-324) And Index. Translated From The French (?).