The Europeanization of Public Policies - Understanding Idiosyncratic Mechanisms and Contingent Results

The debate on the Europeanization of public policies is a specific branch of the new field of research on Europeanization. It aims at understanding how national policies are shaped and changed due to European integration. This research is, however, still in its "infancy". The aim of this paper is threefold: Firstly, it aims at offering an empirically underpinned typology of three mechanisms of Europeanization. Secondly, in doing so, it wants to point to one mechanism of Europeanization that has not been addressed so far (namely Europeanization by evasion) and thus extend the empirical lens. Thirdly, the paper aims at extending the conceptual lens by emphasizing that and why Europeanization is much more than the mere implementation of European policies.