Etudie le développement de nouveaux modes de gouvernance dans l'Union européenne qui offrent une solution aux problèmes qui nuisent aux débats sur l'Europe sociale depuis la création de la Communauté européenne économique. ©Electre 2025

This collection of essays examines the development of new modes of governance in the European Union, asking whether - and under which conditions - these new modes of governance offer a way out of the dilemmas which have plagued debates on 'Social Europe' since the very creation of the European Economic Community, and whether they may inspire developments in other fields. We focus in particular on the open method of coordination, both as an element of the European Employment Strategy and as a tool in the social policy. The open method of coordination is one of a number of new governance mechanisms which seek to foster mutual learning between the Member States and to limit the phenomenon of competitive de regulation in the internal market, while at the same time respecting the diversity of national practices and the existing division of powers between the European Community and the Member States. We sought to confront the practice of the open method of coordination with a number of different approaches to collective action proposed within the current debate on modes of governance. Our hypothesis was that the notion of 'reflexive governance' might serve to identify existing limitations of the current model under which the open method of coordination functions, and to help us come up with possible solutions for overcoming these limitations, especially as the open method of coordination may expand to other policy areas.

The Editors

Olivier De Schutter, a Member of the Global Law School Faculty at New York University, is Professor at the University of Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium), where he is a member of the Centre for Legal Philosophy (CPDR). Simon Deakin is the Robert Monks Professor of Corporate Governance in the Judge Institute of Management, University of Cambridge (United Kingdom).

The Collection

The Collection of the Human Rights Centre of the University of Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium) is directed by Jean-Yves Carlier, Olivier De Schutter and Marc Verdussen (for information about the Human Rights Centre, see www.drt.ucl.ac.be/DH/). It presents volumes which seek to contribute to the public debate on improving the protection of human rights at national, regional and international levels.