Politics of expertise in the European Parliament: discursive constructions and contestations of expertise by party-political actors

This article analyses the politics of expertise in the European Parliament (EP). We aim to understand how MEPs and political group staff discursively construct expertise, its role in parliamentary work, and how expertise is politicized in the EP. The qualitative analysis is based on an extensive int...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Elomäki, Anna, Haapala, Taru Kastehelmi Sofia
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Repositorio:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.uam.es:10486/712996
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10486/712996
https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2023.2283699
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:European Parliament
expertise
MEPs
interest groups
political groups
Derecho
Descripción
Sumario:This article analyses the politics of expertise in the European Parliament (EP). We aim to understand how MEPs and political group staff discursively construct expertise, its role in parliamentary work, and how expertise is politicized in the EP. The qualitative analysis is based on an extensive interview dataset (n=133) from the 8th and 9th legislative terms. It builds on a constructivist approach that sees expertise as constructed, legitimized, and institutionalized in discourses and practices and shaped by struggles and power relations. The article shows that expertise in the EP is a political rather than a technical question. Understandings of expertise and its role are constituted and contested, and political ideologies shape understandings of expertise. Although the role of technical policy expertise in the EP is broadly accepted, it is approached through a political lens, and political groups value and use expertise in different ways in internal policymaking