Introduction

2007-present  Ph.D Student, Department of 
        Sociology/ICS 
2005-2007      MSc Sociology and Social Research,
        Utrecht University
2002-2005      BA Integrated Social Sciences,
   International University Bremen
   (current name: Jacobs University
   Bremen)

Areas of expertise

Policy implementation in different political contexts,

Compliance with EU law

Decision-making and bargaining models in the EU

the European Commission and monitoring and enforcement of EU laws

Links

Department of Sociology, UU (Dutch)
Research Center ICS Utrecht
Undergraduate sociology program (BA), UU (Dutch)
Master's Program on Policy Studies, UU
Policy implementation under adversity. The effect of policy polarization on the performance of government in different institutional and cultural contexts
Polarization and Conflict

Introduction

The goal of this project is to fill two major gaps of current EU implementation research. First, EU scholars have exclusively focused on two dependent variables: (1) the timeliness of transposition of EU directives by member states and (2) the infringement proceedings issued against member states by the European Commission. However, these dependent variables provide little information about the actual performances by member states regarding specific issues addressed in EU laws. By contrast this research project seeks to compare existing indicators and arrive at more appropriate and precise measures for non-compliance with EU policies.

Second,  this project contributes to the literature on preference-based explanations on compliance problems. Hypotheses are formulated on specific factors that are expected to affect member state’s willingness to comply with EU laws.  More precisely,  EU implementation studies have generally disregarded the fact that EU laws are often adopted in situations of disagreement between Council ministers at the EU level, who support divergent policy goals. However, the level of conflict in the Council of the EU is reflected in the adopted EU legislation and hence, would also affect the implementation performance by member states.  In addition, contrasting predictions are derived on the effect of conflict on standard indicators for compliance (i.e. transposition timeliness and formal infringement procedures) and more direct indicators for member states' actual transposition performance with regard to EU policies.

Projects

This project is part of the VIDI research project “Implementation under Adversity”, financed by NWO, as well as a research program on “Polarization and Conflict” financed by the European Commission.

Key publications

‘The Time-dependent Effect of Conflict on Delays in the Transposition of EU Directives’, co-authored with René Torenvlied (Utrecht University) European Union Politics, 2009, 10(1): 35 – 62.

‘The Successful Transposition of Different Provisions by Member States: an Application to the Framework Equality Directive’, co-authored with René Torenvlied, forthcoming in Journal of European Public Policy. Paper presented at the 5^th ECPR General Conference in Potsdam, September, 2009 and the 32^nd EGPA Conference in Toulouse, September, 2010  

‘Escalating the pressure to comply: Analysis on the relation between preference-based indicators and infringement proceedings’ (under revision), previous version presented at the EUSA 11^th Biennial International Conference, Los Angeles, 2009.

Courses

Workshop tutor of the course “Sociology and Public Policy”

Theses supervisor of Bachelor students in Sociology

Contact Information