Starts by briefly comparing and contrasting the institutional structures and policy-making processes in the USA and the EU. Two interrelated arguments are presented in the rest of the chapter: (1) that the EU has quasi-federal institutional structures and quasi-pluralist policy-making processes, which in many ways resemble those of the USA; and (2) that although the EU imposes general adaptational pressures on all member states’ institutions, it, nevertheless, has a differential impact on these member states depending upon whether they are unitary or federal in structure and whether they are statist or corporatist in processes. The different sections of the chapter are: The Institutional Structures of the European Union; The Impact of EU Institutional Structures on Member States; EU Policy-Making Processes; and The Impact of EU Policy-Making Processes on Member States.
Keywords: EU, institutional structures, member states, policy-making, USA