Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T10:56:56.068Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The electoral foundations to noncompliance: addressing the puzzle of unlawful state aid in the European Union

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2015

Fabio Franchino
Affiliation:
Department of Social and Political Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy E-mail: [email protected]
Marco Mainenti
Affiliation:
Department of Social and Political Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Electoral institutions shape the incentives of governments to rely on distributive measures and to comply with international obligations because of the misalignment they may engender between the collective objectives of a government party and the individual objectives of its members in the legislature. We use this argument to explain the puzzle of unlawful state aid measures in the European Union (EU). Existing theories of EU compliance and implementation offer no convincing explanation to their persistence and patterns. Using data from 2000 to 2012, we find that an increase of district magnitude improves compliance. However, compliance decreases with higher magnitude where either party leaders have no control over the ballot rank or other electoral rules strengthen the incentives to search for a personal vote. We also provide evidence for the effects of electoral reforms on compliance. These results have implications for the broader literature on compliance with international regimes.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Angelova, M., Dannwolf, T. and König, T. (2012) How Robust are Compliance Findings? A Research Synthesis. Journal of European Public Policy 19(8): 12691291.Google Scholar
Aydin, U. (2007) Promoting Industries in the Global Economy: Subsidies in OECD Countries, 1989 to 1995. Journal of European Public Policy 14(1): 115131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aydin, U. and Thomas, K. P. (2012) The Challenges and Trajectories of EU Competition Policy in the Twenty-First Century. Journal of European Integration 34(6): 531547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, N. and Katz, J. N. (1995) What to Do (and Not to Do) with Time-Series Cross-Section Data. American Political Science Review 89(3): 634647.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benoit, K. and Laver, M. (2006) Party Policy in Modern Democracies. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berglund, S., Gange, I. and Van Waarden, F. (2006) Mass Production of Law. Routinization in the Transposition of European Directives: A Sociological Institutionalist Account. Journal of European Public Policy 13(5): 692716.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, W. D., Golder, M. and Milton, D. (2012) Improving Tests of Theories Positing Interaction. The Journal of Politics 74(3): 653671.Google Scholar
Birch, S. (2001) Electoral Systems and Party Systems in Europe East and West. Perspectives on European Politics and Society 2(3): 355377.Google Scholar
Bormann, N. and Golder, M. (2013) Democratic Electoral Systems Around the World, 1946–2011. Electoral Studies 32(2): 360369.Google Scholar
Börzel, T. A., Hofmann, T. and Panke, D. (2012) Caving in or Sitting it Out? Longitudinal Patterns of Non-Compliance in the European Union. Journal of European Public Policy 19(4): 454471.Google Scholar
Börzel, T. A., Hofmann, T., Panke, D. and Sprungk, C. (2010) Obstinate and Inefficient: Why Member States Do Not Comply With European Law. Comparative Political Studies 43(11): 13631390.Google Scholar
Cao, X., Prakash, A. and Ward, M. D. (2007) Protecting Jobs in the Age of Globalization: Examining the Relative Salience of Social Welfare and Industrial Subsidies in OECD Countries. International Studies Quarterly 51(2): 301327.Google Scholar
Carey, J. M. and Hix, S. (2013) Consequences of Electoral Rules for Patterns of Redistribution and Regulation. Perspectives on Politics 11(3): 820824.Google Scholar
Carey, J. M. and Shugart, M. S. (1995) Incentives to Cultivate a Personal Vote: A Rank Ordering of Electoral Formulas. Electoral Studies 14(4): 417439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, E. C. C. (2008) Electoral Incentives and Budgetary Spending: Rethinking the Role of Political Institutions. The Journal of Politics 70(4): 10861097.Google Scholar
Chang, E. C. C. and Golden, M. A. (2007) Electoral Systems, District Magnitude and Corruption. British Journal of Political Science 37(1): 115137.Google Scholar
Chayes, A. and Chayes, A. H. (1995) The New Sovereignty: Compliance with International Regulatory Agreements. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Cini, M. and McGowan, L. (2008) Competition Policy in the European Union. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Clark, T. S. and Linzer, D. A. (2015) Should I Use Fixed or Random Effects? Political Science Research and Methods 3(2): 399408.Google Scholar
Dai, X. (2005) Why Comply? The Domestic Constituency Mechanism. International Organization 59(2): 363398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dai, X. (2006) The Conditional Nature of Democratic Compliance. Journal of Conflict Resolution 50(5): 690713.Google Scholar
Dellmuth, L. M. and Stoffel, M. F. (2012) Distributive Politics and Intergovernmental Transfers: The Local Allocation of European Union Structural Funds. European Union Politics 13(3): 413433.Google Scholar
Edwards, M. S. and Thames, F. C. (2007) District Magnitude, Personal Votes, and Government Expenditures. Electoral Studies 26(2): 338345.Google Scholar
Falkner, G., Hartlapp, M. and Treib, O. (2007) Worlds of Compliance: Why Leading Approaches to European Union Implementation are Only “Sometimes-True Theories”. European Journal of Political Research 46(3): 395416.Google Scholar
Falkner, G., Treib, O., Hartlapp, M. and Leiber, S. (2005) Complying with Europe. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falkner, G., Treib, O. and Holzleithner, E. (2008) Compliance in the Enlarged European Union: Living Rights or Dead Letters? Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Franchino, F. and Mainenti, M. (2013) Electoral Institutions and Distributive Policies in Parliamentary Systems: An Application to State Aid Measures in EU Countries. West European Politics 36(3): 498520.Google Scholar
Franzese, R. J. (2002) Macroeconomic Policies in Developed Democracies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Golden, M. A. and Picci, L. (2008) Pork-Barrel Politics in Postwar Italy, 1953–94. American Journal of Political Science 52(2): 268289.Google Scholar
Golder, M. (2005) Democratic Electoral Systems Around the World, 1946–2000. Electoral Studies 24(1): 103121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hallerberg, M. and Marier, P. (2004) Executive Authority, the Personal Vote, and Budget Discipline in Latin American and Caribbean Countries. American Journal of Political Science 48(3): 571587.Google Scholar
Haverland, M. and Romeijn, M. (2007) Do Member States Make European Policies Work? Analysing the EU Transposition Deficit. Public Administration 85(3): 757778.Google Scholar
Haverland, M., Steunenberg, B. and Van Waarden, F. (2011) Sectors at Different Speeds: Analysing Transposition Deficits in the European Union. Journal of Common Market Studies 49(2): 265291.Google Scholar
Hibbs, D. A. (1977) Political Parties and Macroeconomic Policy. American Political Science Review 71(4): 14671487.Google Scholar
Hille, P. and Knill, C. (2006) “It’s the Bureaucracy, Stupid”. The Implementation of the Acquis Communautaire in EU Candidate Countries, 1999–2003. European Union Politics 7(4): 531552.Google Scholar
Jensen, C. B. (2007) Implementing Europe: A Question of Oversight. European Union Politics 8(4): 451477.Google Scholar
Jensen, C. B. and Spoon, J. (2011) Testing the “Party Matters” Thesis: Explaining Progress Towards Tokyo Protocol Targets. Political Studies 59(1): 99115.Google Scholar
Johnson, J. W. and Wallack, J. S. (2007) Electoral Systems and the Personal Vote, http://hdl.handle.net/1902.1/17901, last access March 2014.Google Scholar
Kaeding, M. (2006) Determinants of Transposition Delay in the European Union. Journal of Public Policy 26(3): 229253.Google Scholar
Kaeding, M. (2008) Lost in Translation or Full Steam Ahead: The Transposition of EU Transport Directives Across Member States. European Union Politics 9(1): 115143.Google Scholar
Kassim, H. and Lyons, B. (2013) The New Political Economy of EU State Aid Policy. Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade 13(1): 121.Google Scholar
König, T. and Mäder, L. (2013) Non-Conformable, Partial and Conformable Transposition: A Competing Risk Analysis of the Transposition Process of Directives in the EU15. European Union Politics 14(1): 4669.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laver, M. and Hunt, W. B. (1992) Policy and Party Competition. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lizzeri, A. and Persico, N. (2001) The Provision of Public Goods Under Alternative Electoral Incentives. American Economic Review 91(1): 225239.Google Scholar
Mansfield, E. D., Milner, H. V. and Rosendorff, P. B. (2002) Why Democracies Cooperate More: Electoral Control and International Trade Agreements. International Organization 56(3): 477513.Google Scholar
Mastenbroek, E. (2005) EU Compliance: Still a “Black Hole”? Journal of European Public Policy 12(6): 11031120.Google Scholar
Mastenbroek, E. and Kaeding, M. (2006) Europeanization Beyond the Goodness of Fit: Domestic Politics in the Forefront. Comparative European Politics 4(4): 331354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mbaye, H. A. D. (2001) Why National States Comply with Supranational Law: Explaining Implementation Infringements in the European Union. European Union Politics 2(3): 259281.Google Scholar
McGillivray, F. (2004) Privileging Industry: The Comparative Politics of Trade and Industrial Policy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milesi-Ferretti, G. M., Perotti, R. and Rostagno, M. (2002) Electoral Systems and Public Spending. Quarterly Journal of Economics 117(2): 609657.Google Scholar
Nordhaus, W. D. (1975) The Political Business Cycle. Review of Economic Studies 42(2): 169190.Google Scholar
Perkins, R. and Neumayer, E. (2007) Do Membership Benefits Buy Regulatory Compliance?: An Empirical Analysis of EU Directives 1978–99. European Union Politics 8(2): 180206.Google Scholar
Persson, T. and Tabellini, G. (1999) The Size and Scope of Government: Comparative Politics with Rational Politicians. European Economic Review 43(4–6): 699735.Google Scholar
Persson, T. and Tabellini, G. (2000) Political Economics: Explaining Economic Policy. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Persson, T. and Tabellini, G. (2003) The Economic Effects of Constitutions. Cambridge: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Persson, T. and Tabellini, G. (2004) Constitutional Rules and Fiscal Policy Outcomes. American Economic Review 94(1): 2545.Google Scholar
Rickard, S. J. (2010) Democratic Differences: Electoral Institutions and Compliance with GATT/WTO Agreements. European Journal of International Relations 16(4): 711729.Google Scholar
Rickard, S. J. (2012a) A Non-Tariff Protectionist Bias in Majoritarian Politics: Government Subsidies and Electoral Institutions. International Studies Quarterly 56(4): 777785.Google Scholar
Rickard, S. J. (2012b) Electoral Systems, Voters’ Interests and Geographic Dispersion. British Journal of Political Science 42(4): 855877.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sedelmeier, U. (2012) Is Europeanisation Through Conditionality Sustainable? Lock-In of Institutional Change After EU Accession. West European Politics 35(1): 2038.Google Scholar
Shugart, M. S. (2013) Why Ballot Structure Matters. Perspectives on Politics 11(3): 818820.Google Scholar
Shugart, M. S., Valdini, M. E. and Suominen, K. (2005) Looking for Locals: Voter Information Demands and Personal Vote-Earning Attributes of Legislators Under Proportional Representation. American Journal of Political Science 49(2): 437449.Google Scholar
Simmons, B. A. (2000) International Law and State Behaviour: Commitment and Compliance in International Monetary Affairs. American Political Science Review 94(4): 819835.Google Scholar
Steunenberg, B. and Rhinard, M. (2010) The Transposition of European Law in EU Member States: Between Process and Politics. European Political Science Review 2(3): 495520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sverdrup, U. (2008) Implementation. In Graziano P. and Vink M. P. (eds.), Europeanization: New Research Agendas. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 197211.Google Scholar
Toshkov, D. (2007) Transposition of EU Social Policy in the New Member States. Journal of European Social Policy 17(4): 335348.Google Scholar
Toshkov, D. (2008) Embracing European Law Compliance with EU Directives in Central and Eastern Europe. European Union Politics 9(3): 379402.Google Scholar
Treib, O. (2014) Implementing and Complying with EU Governance Outputs. Living Reviews in European Governance 9(1), http://www.livingreviews.org/lreg-2014-1, last access October 2014.Google Scholar
Versluis, E., Van Keulen, M. and Stephenson, P. (2010) Analyzing the European Union Policy Process. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Wallack, J. S., Gaviria, A., Panizza, U. and Stein, E. (2003) Particularism Around the World. World Bank Economic Review 17(1): 133143.Google Scholar
Weingast, B. R., Shepsle, K. A. and Johnsen, C. (1981) The Political Economy of Benefits and Costs: A Neoclassical Approach to Distributive Politics. Journal of Political Economy 89(4): 642664.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, S. E. and Butler, D. M. (2007) A Lot More to Do: The Sensitivity of Time-Series Cross-Section Analyses to Simple Alternative Specifications. Political Analysis 15(2): 101123.Google Scholar
Zahariadis, N. (2005) Policy Networks, Elections, and State Subsidies. Review of Policy Research 22(2): 115131.Google Scholar
Zahariadis, N. (2010) State Aid and Partisan Government in the European Union. Social Science Quarterly 91(2): 436454.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Franchino and Mainenti supplementary material

Tables and Data source

Download Franchino and Mainenti supplementary material(File)
File 101.1 KB