Innovative Approaches to EU Multilevel Implementation

This book moves beyond legal compliance in European Union (EU) implementation research to shed light on the diversity of responses to EU policy, practical implementation patterns, and mechanisms to ensure compliance. The chapters originally published as a special issue in the Journal of European Public Policy.

Eva Thomann is a political scientist specialized in Public Policy and Public Administration. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics at the University of Exeter, UK. Her research about the implementation of public policies in multi-level systems and at the frontline was published, amongst others, in the European Journal of Political Research, Policy Sciences, Public Administration and the Journal of Public Policy. Her article "Customizing Europe: transposition as bottom-up implementation" appeared in the Journal of European Public Policy in 2015. A single-authored book about the customization of EU food safety policy is forthcoming. Fritz Sager PhD, is Professor of Political Science at and member of the Executive Board of the Center of Competence for Public Management at the University of Bern, Switzerland, as well as Dean of the University's Faculty of Business, Economics, and Social Sciences. He is specialized in policy research and evaluation, administrative studies and theory, organizational analysis, and Swiss politics. His research has been published in the European Journal of Political Research, Public Administration Review, Governance, Public Administration, Journal of Public Policy, Policy & Politics, Political Studies, West European Politics, Journal of Urban Affairs, American Journal of Evaluation, Public Management Review, Public Money & Management, Evaluation, and the European Political Science Review, among others. His most recent books are "The European Public Servant: A Shared Administrative Identity?" together with Patrick Overeem (2015) and a textbook in German language "Policy-Analyse in der Schweiz. Besonderheiten, Theorien, Beispiele", together with Karin Ingold and Andreas Balthasar (2017). His research has won several awards.

1. Moving beyond legal compliance: innovative approaches to EU multilevel implementation Eva Thomann and Fritz Sager 2. Moving beyond (non-)compliance: the customization of European Union policies in 27 countries Eva Thomann and Asya Zhelyazkova 3. Guardians of EU law? Analysing roles and behaviour of Dutch legislative drafters involved in EU compliance Ellen Mastenbroek 4. Policy implementation through multi-level governance: analysing practical implementation of EU air quality directives in Germany Judith A.M. Gollata and Jens Newig 5. Europe at the frontline: analysing street-level motivations for the use of European Union migration law Nora Dörrenbächer 6. Mind the trend! Enforcement of EU law has been moving to 'Brussels' Miroslava Scholten 7. Strategies in multilevel policy implementation: moving beyond the limited focus on compliance Eva G. Heidbreder 8. Toward a better understanding of implementation performance in the EU multilevel system Eva Thomann and Fritz Sager