Governance in advanced European integration

This chapter provides the necessary theoretical lens to analyse post-2010 developments within the European social dimension. It situates itself within the governance approach to analyse the European Union (EU), but overcomes the inherent weaknesses within the framework by reintroducing the concepts of power and politics to the governance lens. This approach is referred to as ‘governance in advanced European integration’. This chapter is divided into four main parts. The first section reviews the grand debate. While the reader may be all too familiar with it, it is important to underline what the debate was ultimately concerned with. It is only then that we fully appreciate how and why the governance approach emerged and what it does differently. The second section focuses on the main weakness of the grand debate: that it failed to acknowledge the changing nature of the state and the changing nature of the European integration project. The main tenants of the governance approach are outlined in the third section and the final section outlines ‘governance in advanced European integration’.