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Numéro spécial avec 7 articles.; International audience; Far from reopening classic debates on EU modes of governance, this special issue uses the governance notion as an organizing concept in order to examine the governing of the EU in times of crisis. More specifically, we argue that focusing on modes of governance contributes to the understanding of ‘where the power lies in the EU system’ especially when an external shock – such as the crisis – hits the EU governance system. A systematic investigation is not possible given the limitation on space, but this introductory article highlights some of the aspects that we consider have been at the heart of the new political challenges to the EU. Our main hypothesis is that the 2008 crisis has offered a new opportunity for the intergovernmental mode of decision-making to prevail, left marginal space for further including citizens in decision-making processes and has provided a very narrow definition of effectiveness. This change of context calls for a re-examination of forms of governing in the EU, and more specifically the so-called‘softening narrative’, in order to go beyond a mere distinction between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ law and focus more on the governing processes that are in place in various institutional and policy areas.

International audience; Far from reopening classic debates on EU modes of governance, this special issue uses the governance notion as an organizing concept in order to examine the governing of the EU in times of crisis. More specifically, we argue that focusing on modes ofgovernance contributes to the understanding of ‘where the power lies in the EU system’ especially when an external shock – such as the crisis – hits the EU governance system. A systematic investigation is not possible given the limitation on space, but this introductory article highlights some of the aspects that we consider have been at the heart of the new political challenges to the EU. Our main hypothesis is that the 2008 crisis has offered a new opportunity for the intergovernmental mode of decision-making to prevail, left marginal space for further including citizens in decision-making processes and has provided a very narrow definition of effectiveness. This change of context calls for a re-examination of forms of governing in the EU, and more specifically the so-called ‘softening narrative’, in order to go beyond a mere distinction between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ law and focus more on the governing processes that are in place in various institutional and policy areas.

Paper submitted for publication in March 2014 and to be published in a revised version in February 2015 in Comparative European Politics. For the final version, see doi: 10.1057/cep.2015.6

The abundant literature on welfare state policies, regimes or ‘worlds' has been only limitedly interested in unemployment protection, and even less in youth unemployment protection. What is clearly lacking in the literature is an updated analysis of the most recent policies developed in European countries targeting youth. This mini-symposium aims to fill in this gap by presenting findings from an EU-funded research project entitled ‘Youth, Unemployment and Exclusion in Europe: A Multidimensional Approach to Understanding the Conditions and Prospects for Social and Political Integration of Young Unemployed' (YOUNEX). The main aim of the research endeavour was to develop theory and contribute to empirical knowledge concerning the social and political exclusion of unemployed youth in Europe.

The abundant literature on welfare state policies, regimes or ‘worlds’ has been only limitedly interested in unemployment protection, and even less in youth unemployment protection. What is clearly lacking in the literature is an updated analysis of the most recent policies developed in European countries targeting youth. This mini-symposium aims to fill in this gap by presenting findings from an EU-funded research projectentitled ‘Youth, Unemployment and Exclusion in Europe: A Multidimensional Approach to Understanding the Conditions and Prospects for Social and Political Integration of Young Unemployed’ (YOUNEX). The main aim of the research endeavour was to develop theory and contribute to empirical knowledge concerning the social and political exclusion of unemployed youth in Europe.

Introduction à la Section du même nom.; Since the early 1990s, the governing of the EU has been characterized by a growing diversity in forms of policy making. More specifically, after a decade of innovations and new policy developments, the introduction of new types of "policy instruments" were aimed at both rationalising public policies and democratising forms of policy-making. Such tools (e.g., organization charts, framework agreements, European employment strategy, open method of coordination, the so called Bologna process, etc.), which are characterized by their non-hierarchical nature, seek direct involvement from a large variety of social groups and open - at least in principle - new political opportunities for EU institutions, in particular the European Commission. Nevertheless, some recent scholarly work shows how such political opportunities have not always increased the coordination capacity of the European institutions (again, in primis the European Commission), nor has the decision-making process been effectively more open with respect to civil society. In other terms, the overall impact of the new modes of governance on EU policy making still remains contested. Using new modes of governance as an organizing concept, the proposed section aims at addressing the impact of changing patterns of policy making, both in terms of rationalisation and democratization. This focus also enables to address a new important set of questions to be posed with respect to democratization processes within different political systems: to what extent have new modes of governance contributed to the enhancement of the steering capacity of EU institutions and to the democratization of forms of policy making at EU level? Have - and if so, how - 'new' modes of governance redefined the relationship among various levels of government within the EU? Have evolving forms of governance created specific forms of Europeanization? What are the effects of the combination of 'old' and 'new' modes of governance on the production and legitimation of European public action? Organized by the Young ECPR Network on Europeanisation, this section aims at bringing together scholars currently conducting research on governance innovations in different national and EU contexts to examine the link between new modes of governance and policy-making in the EU.

Introduction à la Section du même nom.; Since the early 1990s, the governing of the EU has been characterized by a growing diversity in forms of policy making. More specifically, after a decade of innovations and new policy developments, the introduction of new types of "policy instruments" were aimed at both rationalising public policies and democratising forms of policy-making. Such tools (e.g., organization charts, framework agreements, European employment strategy, open method of coordination, the so called Bologna process, etc.), which are characterized by their non-hierarchical nature, seek direct involvement from a large variety of social groups and open - at least in principle - new political opportunities for EU institutions, in particular the European Commission. Nevertheless, some recent scholarly work shows how such political opportunities have not always increased the coordination capacity of the European institutions (again, in primis the European Commission), nor has the decision-making process been effectively more open with respect to civil society. In other terms, the overall impact of the new modes of governance on EU policy making still remains contested. Using new modes of governance as an organizing concept, the proposed section aims at addressing the impact of changing patterns of policy making, both in terms of rationalisation and democratization. This focus also enables to address a new important set of questions to be posed with respect to democratization processes within different political systems: to what extent have new modes of governance contributed to the enhancement of the steering capacity of EU institutions and to the democratization of forms of policy making at EU level? Have - and if so, how - 'new' modes of governance redefined the relationship among various levels of government within the EU? Have evolving forms of governance created specific forms of Europeanization? What are the effects of the combination of 'old' and 'new' modes of governance on the production and legitimation of European public action? Organized by the Young ECPR Network on Europeanisation, this section aims at bringing together scholars currently conducting research on governance innovations in different national and EU contexts to examine the link between new modes of governance and policy-making in the EU.

Since the early 1990s, the governing of the EU has been characterized by a growing diversity in forms of policy making. More specifically, after a decade of innovations and new policy developments, the introduction of new types of "policy instruments" were aimed at both rationalising public policies and democratising forms of policy-making. Such tools (e.g., organization charts, framework agreements, European employment strategy, open method of coordination, the so called Bologna process, etc.), which are characterized by their non-hierarchical nature, seek direct involvement from a large variety of social groups and open - at least in principle - new political opportunities for EU institutions, in particular the European Commission. Nevertheless, some recent scholarly work shows how such political opportunities have not always increased the coordination capacity of the European institutions (again, in primis the European Commission), nor has the decision-making process been effectively more open with respect to civil society. In other terms, the overall impact of the new modes of governance on EU policy making still remains contested. Using new modes of governance as an organizing concept, the proposed section aims at addressing the impact of changing patterns of policy making, both in terms of rationalisation and democratization. This focus also enables to address a new important set of questions to be posed with respect to democratization processes within different political systems: to what extent have new modes of governance contributed to the enhancement of the steering capacity of EU institutions and to the democratization of forms of policy making at EU level? Have - and if so, how - 'new' modes of governance redefined the relationship among various levels of government within the EU? Have evolving forms of governance created specific forms of Europeanization? What are the effects of the combination of 'old' and 'new' modes of governance on the production and legitimation of European public action? Organized by the Young ECPR Network on Europeanisation, this section aims at bringing together scholars currently conducting research on governance innovations in different national and EU contexts to examine the link between new modes of governance and policy-making in the EU.

The research seminar has been devoted to the analysis of the new features of EU forms of policy-making by adopting a policy instrument approach, which enables to question the widely shared assumptions that ‘new' modes of governance are conduits for democratization and increase the steering capacity of European institutions. Indeed, the research seminar aimed at discussing from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective the evolution of ‘new' modes of governance and their role in the redefinition of policy-making in the EU. The discussions were organised in two sessions: 1) The effects of ‘new' modes of governance on the opening of European decision-making process (Boussaguet, Ravinet, Halpern) ; 2) The effects of ‘new' modes of governance on the steering capacity of EU institutions (Sabourin, Jacquot, Tholoniat)., A partir d'une réflexion centrée sur les « nouveaux » modes de gouvernance, cette journée d'étude s'est interrogée sur les recompositions de l'action publique européenne. L'approche par les instruments d'action publique permet en effet de mettre en question l'idée selon laquelle ces mécanismes constitueraient a priori des vecteurs de démocratisation de l'action publique européenne et contribueraient au renforcement du rôle joué par les institutions européennes en terme de pilotage de l'action publique. Les contributions, ainsi que les débats qu'elles ont suscités, se sont organisés en deux temps : 1) Les effets des « nouveaux » modes de gouvernance en termes d'ouverture des processus décisionnels (Boussaguet, Ravinet, Halpern) ; 2) Les effets des « nouveaux » modes de gouvernance en termes de pilotage de l'action publique européenne (Sabourin, Jacquot, Tholoniat).