The research group works on the following areas:
- Mapping of the European Union's political-administrative multi-level structure
- Studies of EU decision-making processes and their democratic consequences
- Studies of various policy areas in the EU with particular emphasis on EU foreign policy, health policy, and research and higher education policy.
- The EU's role in the world, with particular emphasis on Central and Eastern Europe Norwegian European policy
- International organisations and international bureaucracy
PhD programme in social sciences
Institutional focus
The research group has a strong focus on European and EU institutions and strong interest on questions of institutional design, democracy and accountability of systems of governance, and how they impact on public governance processes and institutional change and continuity. Research focuses specifically on the changing role of political representatives and unelected office holders. This includes research on the structuring and governance of politico-administrative institutions, relationships between politics and administration, and the role of semi-public organisations such as contracted public services. The intellectual foundations of the group lie in a diverse fields of administrative sciences, political theory, organisational and institutional theory, international relations and theories of decision making and the policy-making process.
Governance and policy focus
Research focuses on governance systems, how they are structured, how they function, and their effects. Governance is understood as steering society through interactive and hierarchical processes towards collectively negotiated goals. This involves research on how EU institutions and policies intersect with member states, including the complex web of multi-level interactions between municipalities, regions, states and the supranational level. This also includes research on how the EU governs policy fields that cut across national borders, and how EU acts as an international policy actor. The research group conducts analyses on a wide range of policy areas, including for example external relations, development policy, energy policy, research and higher education, health, taxation, as well as, radicalism and popular dissent.
Selected research partners
- University of Oslo, ARENA Centre for European Studies, Norway
- University of Canberra, School of Government and Policy, Australia
- UC Berkeley, Peder Sather Centre for Advanced Studies
- University of Trento, Department of Political Science, Italy
- The German Development Institute, Germany
- Maastricht University, Department of Political Science, The Netherlands
- The German University of Public Administration, Speyer
- Leiden University, Department of Public Administration, The Netherlands
- University of Konstanz, Department of Political Science, Germany
- University of Utrecht, School of Governance, The Netherlands
Selected publications
Ansell, C., J. Trondal and M. Ogard (eds.) (2017) Governance in Turbulent Times. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bauer, M.W. and J. Trondal (eds.) (2015) The Palgrave Handbook of the European Administrative System. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
Busouic, M., M. Groenleer and J. Trondal (2012) (eds.) The Agency Phenomenon in the European Union. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Egeberg, M. and J. Trondal (2016) ‘Why strong coordination at one level of government is incompatible with strong coordination across levels (and how to live with it). The case of the European Union’, Public Administration 94(3): 579–592.
Gänzle, S. (2017) ‘Macro-regional Strategies of the European Union (EU) and Experimentalist Design of Multi-level Governance: the Case of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region’, Regional & Federal Studies, 27 (1): 1-22.
Gänzle, S. and K. Kern (eds) (2016) A ‘Macro-regional Europe’ in the Making. Theoretical Approaches and Empirical Evidence, EU studies series edited by Neill Nugent, Michelle Egan and William Paterson), London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gänzle, S. (2016), ‘New Strategic Approaches to Territorial Cooperation in Europe: from Euro-regions to European Groupings for Territorial Cooperation (EGTCs) and Macro-regional Strategies’, Simona Piattoni and Laura Polverari (eds), Handbook on Cohesion Policy in the European Union, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016: 384-398.
Furness, M. and S. Gänzle (2016) ‘»Nexus Management» in EU Foreign Relations after Lisbon: Policy Coherence at Last?’, Development Policy Review, DOI::10.1111/dpr.12191.
Piattoni, S. (2010) The Theory of Multi-level Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Piattoni, S. (2016) ´Cohesion policy, multilevel governance and democracy´, in S. Piattoni and L. Polverari (eds.) Handbook on Cohesion Policy in the EU. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
Piattoni, S. (2016) ´Exploring European Macro-regional Strategies through the Lens of Multilevel Governance´, in S. Gaenzle and K. Kristine (eds.) A 'Macro-regional' Europe in the Making. Theoretical Approaches and Empirical Evidence. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave-Macmillan.
Stie, A.E. (2013) Democratic Decision-making in the EU. London: Routledge.
Trondal, J. (2010) An Emergent European Executive Order. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Trondal, J. (2016) ‘Advances to the study of international public administration’, Journal of European Public Policy 23(7): 1097–1108.
Trondal, J. (ed.) (2017) The Rise of Common Political Order. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Trondal, J. and M.W Bauer (2017) ‘Conceptualizing the European multilevel administrative order. Capturing variation in the European administrative system’, European Political Science Review 9(1): 73-94.
Henökl, T (2015) Inside the External Action Service: Unpacking the EU foreign policy bureaucracy. PhD thesis, University of Agder.
Henökl, T. (2015) ‘How Do EU Foreign Policy-Makers Decide? Institutional Orientations within the European External Action Service, West European Politics 38(3): 679-708.
Henökl, T. (2014) ‘Conceptualizing the European Diplomatic Space: A framework for analysis of the European External Action Service’, Journal of European Integration 36(5):453-471.
Henökl, T. and J. Trondal (2015) ‘Unveiling the Anatomy of Autonomy: Dissecting actor-level independence of the EU’s foreign policy bureaucracy’, Journal of European Public Policy 22(10): 1426–1447.
Lia, Brynjar & Katja H-W Skjølberg, 2000. ‘Why Terrorism Occurs - A Survey of Theories and Hypotheses on the Causes of Terrorism’. FFI rapport. 02769. Kjeller: Forsvarets forskningsinstitutt.
Lia, Brynjar & Katja H-W Skjølberg, 2005. ‘Causes of Terrorism: An Expanded and Updated Review of the Literature’, FFI Research Report-2004/04307. Kjeller: Forsvarets Forskningsinstitutt.