Europeanisation, Soft Law and the Crisis

Influence of "e;hard"e; law on national policies still is a central topic in Europeanisation research. One aspect often overlooked is the impact of "e;soft"e; law instruments such as the "e;Open Method of Coordination"e; (OMC). Through the OMC all member states agree on common goals and exchange "e;best practices"e; to improve policy coordination in a certain area without the obligation (how) to design policies. OMC impacts in individual member states have been studied extensively, yet a comparative perspective explaining their variance is lacking. This study by Niclas Beinborn tries to fill this gap by analysing the different impacts of a recent OMC: the European Youth Strategy 2010 (EUYS). His analysis is twofold: in a first step he applies theory-driven fuzzy-set QCA to a novel dataset depicting the variance of national activities around the EUYS. As causalities remain unclear, in a second step he presents an innovative analysis framework encompassing two dimensions - national motivation and relative openness to implement non-binding EU law - to define ideal types of OMC adaptation. Case studies on the EUYS in Germany and Ireland proof the potential of this framework to explain why and how OMCs work (differently).