A Historical-Institutionalist Explanation of the European Union’s Environmental Policy Evolution

Abstract

In this paper I offer a possible explanation of the early development of the Environmental Policy of the European Union by resorting to the historical institutionalist paradigm. I hold that the evolution of this policy, purportedly peculiar in that it was basically absent from the original treaties, can be adequately explained by this paradigm, due to the fact that it can illustrate how the original institutional arrangement led ultimately to consequences that were far from what the actors involved in setting up that arrangement intended. An important caveat concerns the fact that throughout the paper I use a specific meaning of historical institutionalism, i.e. one that is fully compatible with the introduction of ideas and norms in the explanans.

Keywords

• Critical Junctures
• Environment Mainstreaming
• Locked-in interests
• Normative power
• Path dependency
• Unforeseen Consequences