A Critical Assessment of Jennifer R. Wozniak

Boyle´s "Conditional Leadership"

Including a comment upon the "AER Study on Regional

Policy 2014+"

The Hague University

HEBO ­ School for European Studies

Course: European Regional Policy

Philipp Alvares de Souza Soares (exchange student)

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

1

2. Outline of the book

1

3. Theoretical background

2

3.1 Intergovernmentalism

2

3.2 Supranational Institutionalism

3

4. Empirical methodology

3

5. Results

4

6. Critical assessment

5

7. Comment upon the AER study

5

8. Conclusion

6

Bibliography

7

1

1. Introduction

In this essay I try to make a brief critical summary of Jennifer R. Wozniak Boyle´s book

"Conditional Leadership ­ The European Commission and the European Regional Policy" and

to use its theoretical framework to comment upon the "AER Study on Regional Policy

2014+"1.

In the first part I´m going to describe the outline of Wozniak Boyle´s book and explain the

two contemporary models of European integration: Intergovernmentalism and

Supranational Institutionalism. Then I continue with describing the way how Wozniak Boyle

tries to determine the influence of the Commission in European regional policy and

summarize her results. In the end I´m going to critically assess the book and try use its

theoretical framework, if possible, to comment upon the AER Study. The essay ends with a

conclusion.

2. Outline of the book

In her book "Conditional Leadership" Wozniak Boyle (2006) tries to determine the role of the

Commission in European integration. She is unsatisfied with the current research level in this

field and tries to combine the two theoretical approaches generally competing to explain

integration processes: Intergovernmentalism and Supranational Institutionalism (p. 8, 21).

Wozniak Boyle (2006) analyzes the European regional policy since the establishment of the

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the 1970s to measure the degree of

influence the Commission had and has in this important field of European integration and to

assess which of the two competing theories fit better to explain integration (pp. 15, 29). She

chose regional policy for her study because it "provides an excellent case for probing the

Commission´s role in European integration" (Wozniak Boyle, 2006, p. 15) from her point of

view. In this area a substantial part of the EU budget is spent and it touches the important

issue of unemployment. Those two characteristics make influence in this field desirable for

many parties and power balances will probably show up (Wozniak Boyle, 2006, pp. 15, 16).

To achieve this goal Wozniak Boyle (2006) focuses on the processes behind the creation of

the ERDF and the preceding reforms of it or regional policy until 1999. She analyzes those

1 AER is an acronym of Assembly of European Regions.