The Field of Eurocracy: Mapping EU Actors and Professionals (European Administrative Governance)

The word Eurocracy has resonance throughout out Europe but in reality we know little about the people who work in and around the EU or how they fit into its large bureaucratic framework. Based on extensive fieldwork, this book addresses this problem by exploring the MEPs, diplomats, civil servants and commissioners that work in and around the EU. "The term 'Eurocracy' is a word that exists in all European languages. Yet beyond fantasized representations of the 'Brussels bubble', we know little about members of the European Parliament, Commissioners, European civil servants, lobbyists, members of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, European trade unionists, diplomats and journalists who work in or around the EU institutions? What are their social and professional trajectories, the type of authority they possess, and how does it matter? Based on extensive fieldwork, this volume aims at answering these questions by building upon Pierre Bourdieu's theory of the field of bureaucracy. 45 years after Altiero Spinelli's 'The Eurocrats', this book sheds new light on the relational structures that underpin the functioning of the EU polity. Specialists of European affairs, scholars and students in politics, administration and sociology as well as citizens will find original insights to understanding EU institutions and why the European project appears to be in crisis."-- Provided by publisher "The term 'Eurocracy' is a word that exists in all European languages. Yet beyond fantasized representations of the 'Brussels bubble', we know little about members of the European Parliament, Commissioners, European civil servants, lobbyists, members of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, European trade unionists, diplomats and journalists who work in or around the EU institutions? What are their social and professional trajectories, the type of authority they possess, and how does it matter? Based on extensive fieldwork, this volume aims at answering these questions by building upon Pierre Bourdieu's theory of the field of bureaucracy. 45 years after Altiero Spinelli's 'The Eurocrats', this book sheds new light on the relational structures that underpin the functioning of the EU polity. Specialists of European affairs, scholars and students in politics, administration and sociology as well as citizens will find original insights to understanding EU institutions and why the European project appears to be in crisis."--(site de l'éditeur) Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Introduction: Studying Eurocracy as a Bureaucratic Field....Pages 1-15 MEPs: Towards a Specialization of European Political Work?....Pages 16-34 Tensions within Eurocracy: A Socio-morphological Perspective....Pages 35-60 The Permanent Representatives to the EU: Going Native in the European Field?....Pages 61-86 ECB Leaders. A New European Monetary Elite?....Pages 87-104 The World of European Information: The Institutional and Relational Genesis of the EU Public Sphere....Pages 105-136 Expert Groups in the Field of Eurocracy....Pages 137-165 Interest Groups and Lobbyists in the European Political Space: The Permanent Eurocrats....Pages 166-187 The Personnel of the European Trade Union Confederation: Specifically European Types of Capital?....Pages 188-201 European Business Leaders. A Focus on the Upper Layers of the European Field Power....Pages 202-225 Conclusion: The Field of Eurocracy: A New Map for New Research Horizons....Pages 226-247 Back Matter....Pages 248-274