ABSTRACT
MULTIPLE POLICY STAKEHOLDERS IN THE EXERCISE OF ‘LOOSE-JOINTED’ POWER One of the main attributes of the nation state is the ability to make ‘authoritative allocations’ for society in the Eastonian fashion. In practice this means an ability to formulate and implement public policy programmes governing the operation of society. Whether the European Union (EU) can be considered a fully fledged state is not the concern of this chapter. However, it is beyond dispute that the EU has acquired for itself at least the policy-making attributes of a modern state, across an increasingly wide range of policy sectors. Indeed, much of the criticism of the EC during the Maastricht debates was centred upon the alleged excessive policy making role of the EC in general and of the Commission in particular. The anti-Maastricht argument was that the EC had become a ‘nanny’ state, over-regulating the economic and social life of member states. In practice, the erosion of national autonomy means the erosion of the power of the member states to decide much of their public policy via domestic policy-making processes.
