Swiss and Norwegian regions in Brussels: How and why do the regions of associated member-states of the EU mobilize in Brussels? By Frode Realfsen Master Thesis Department of Comparative Politics June 2015 i Abstract Why do the regions of Norway have regional offices in Brussels while the Swiss regions do not? The research done in the thesis features one of the first analyses done on regional mobilization from countries currently not member of the EU. This thesis starts with the assumption that there is some combination of full-member/associated member axis and the federal unitary axis that makes this difference in outcome. In using original interview data collected from eight regional offices from four states collected in Brussels. The interviews are then analyzed using comparable case analysis with MSSD. The conclusion suggests that it is the Norwegian membership of the EEA and Switzerland’s bilateral treaties which produce the difference in outcome and further that the Norwegian offices are operating identical to the offices of EU member-states when viewed from a functional perspective. ii Acknowledgements I would first like to thank my supervisor Michael Tatham for the indispensable and always patient feedback. And the greatest thanks also go to my respondents in the Brussels regional offices for their time and answers which made the thesis a possibility. Bergen June 2015 Frode Realfsen iii Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................. iii 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 What makes this topic interesting? ..................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Motivation for the thesis ..................................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Definitions ........................................................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Historical background .......................................................................................................................... 4 1.5 Summary of findings ............................................................................................................................ 5 2 Theories of European integration and regionalization ................................................................................... 7 2.1 Liberal Intergovernmentalism ............................................................................................................. 7 2.2 Multi-level governance ........................................................................................................................ 8 2.2.1 Alternative regional categorization ...................................................................................... 10 2.3 Constructivism ................................................................................................................................... 11 2.4 Mobilization ....................................................................................................................................... 12 3. Variables of regional offices and literature review ...................................................................................... 15 3.1 Objectives .......................................................................................................................................... 15 3.1.1 Information gathering .......................................................................................................... 15 3.1.2 Policy influencing .................................................................................................................. 16 3.1.3 Promotion of region ............................................................................................................. 18 3.2 Channels ............................................................................................................................................ 18 3.2.1 Commission .......................................................................................................................... 18 3.2.2 EU Parliament (EP)................................................................................................................ 18 3.2.3 Their own government ......................................................................................................... 19 3.2.4 Bypassing the government ................................................................................................... 20 3.3 Co-operation with other regions ....................................................................................................... 20 3.4 Office type ......................................................................................................................................... 22 3.4.1 Public/Private partnerships .................................................................................................. 22 3.4.2 Administrative offices ........................................................................................................... 22 3.7 Independent Variables ...................................................................................................................... 23 4 Research design ............................................................................................................................................. 24 4.1 Theory on interviews ......................................................................................................................... 25 4.2 The interview process ....................................................................................................................... 25 4.3 The comparable method using Most Similar Systems Design .......................................................... 28 iv 4.4 Common issues with all types of research ........................................................................................ 29 4.5 Measuring influence .......................................................................................................................... 30 5. Case Selection ............................................................................................................................................... 34 5.1 Norway .............................................................................................................................................. 37 5.2 Switzerland ........................................................................................................................................ 38 5.3 Sweden .............................................................................................................................................. 40 5.4 Austria ............................................................................................................................................... 41 6 Analysis .......................................................................................................................................................... 43 6.1 The countries ..................................................................................................................................... 43 6.1.1 Switzerland ........................................................................................................................... 43 6.1.2 Norway ................................................................................................................................. 50 6.1.3 Austria .................................................................................................................................. 59 6.1.4 Sweden ................................................................................................................................. 66 6.2 Summary of analysis .......................................................................................................................... 73 6.3 Testing the hypotheses ..................................................................................................................... 75 7. Final discussion and conclusion .................................................................................................................... 82 7.1 Conclusion and implication ............................................................................................................... 83 8 References ..................................................................................................................................................... 88 v 1 Introduction 1.1 What makes this topic interesting? The idea of a “Europe of the Regions” has not come to fruition as was foreseen in the eighties and nineties. On the other hand the reality of today is that the regions of the EU states have become an integrated part of the policy process of the EU, where the number of regions that are represented in Brussels has grown steadily since the first offices were established in the middle of the eighties with the count in 2007 being about 250 (Moore, 2008, p. 520). That the regions from member-states are represented