Technocracy in the European Union

One of the most common and strongest criticisms of the EU is that power is held by a select few who are unaccountable technocrats sitting in Brussels who are formulating policies without consultation, with the risk that the basic thrust of democracy is being ignored. Claudio M. Radaelli analyses the extent to which this is true and argues that, in reality, ‘technocracy’ is counter-balanced by a process of ‘politicization’ in today’s European Union. He introduces readers to the wide ranging literature from political science, public policy analysis and organizational behaviour on bureaucracy, technocracy and the politics of expertise to see how they help us to understand what is going on in Brussels. *Deals with a topic that is poorly understood but which is central to understanding how the EU works. *Adopts an innovative approach to the study of the EU, which is concise and analytical.. *Analyses the extent to which this is true and will introduce readers to the wide ranging literature from political science, political sociolology and organizational behaviour on bureaucracy, technocracy and the nature of the State to see how they help us to understand what is going on in Brussels.