Research Papers

The development of the European flexicurity concept is on the hand described as a Commission-driven project and on the other hand as a process that followed to some extent the principles for good governance. This paper sheds light on the actual roles and views of a wide range of actors throughout the flexicurity policy-making process by providing a detailed and in-depth process description. The paper combines new governance theory that among others values broad and equal actor inclusion at all stages of the policy-making process, with political theory that emphasises the role of power in explaining the outcome of a process. It compares the assumptions of these theories with the actual policy-making process as it took place and moreover allows for the rich case data to add relevant observations to the analysis. To this end, the paper uses both the process-tracing methodology and the congruence methodology. Based on over 500 documents and 34 elite interviews with key policy-makers from six different European Institutions, ten European level social partner organisations, and six European level NGOs, the paper scrutinises the roles and views of these actors throughout the policy-making process. The paper concludes that although the Commission was an important driver of the flexicurity agenda, other key actors helped shaping flexicurity as well, some of which had a rather important role. However, actor participation was not equal, nor were all actors involved from early on in the policy-making process, suggesting that both new governance and political theories may explain the policy-making outcome.