Book Review: New Governance and the Transformation of European Law – Coordinating EU Social Law and Policy
| DOI | 10.1177/1023263X1302000411 |
| Date | 01 December 2013 |
| Published date | 01 December 2013 |
| Author | Joana Mendes |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
Book Reviews
20 MJ 4 (2013) 653
Mark Dawson, New Governance and the Transformation of European Law –
Coordinating EU Social Law and Policy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
2011, 374 pp., hardback, $114.00, ISBN 978–1–107–00632–4.
Mark Dawson’s book is an innovative approach to the relationship between law and
governance in EU integration. It analyses their current relationships – id est how they
have evolved, how they are shaped, how they can b e interpreted – and provides a basis for
future research and reform, built on the identi cation of current pitfalls. ese are the
stated goals of the book,1 which the author fully achieves. ere is a w ide and disparate
literature that has dea lt with new modes of governance in the EU f rom various theoretical
and normative perspectives. For t his reason, the author anticipates the reader’s question:
why another analysi s of new governance?
To answer this question, Dawson separates the ex isting literature into two waves and
proposes ‘an aspirant third wave,’2 which he deli neates and where he places his book. e
third wave the author proposes arises from the con rmation of the insu ciencies of the
rst two waves. In contrast with the rst one, the third wave is distinctively inductive
(built on empirical a nalysis), critical, insofar a s it is conscious of the biases inherent to the
concepts of new governance, and reform oriented. e third wave is therefore presented
as qualitatively d i erent from the approaches of the rst two waves, to the extent that one
wonders whether still considering it a ‘wave’ is not giving in too much to the clarity of
the ‘stylised account’ 3 of the literature. is intro ductory analysis is, in any event, a ver y
useful tool for those who, not being enga ged in this literature, are never theless interested
in understanding t he signi cance of this ‘movement’.
More importantly, it contextuali zes the distinctive featu res of the book. I would point
out three: rst, the author’s analysis of the theoretical implications of new governance
on the nature of law in complex polities, which builds on legal theory debates and is
coupled with a deep empirical knowledge and sensitivity to the reality of OMC – the
focus of the book; second, the approach to new governance and to the OMC as part
of the deeper ‘procedural’ transformation of EU law; third, a lawyer’s view over new
governance processes, which is sensitive to the need to protect and reintegrate their
political di mension. e focu s on OMC processes is justi e d by t he ve ry s ali ence of OMC
processes in this ‘governance movement’, but ought perhaps to have been explicit ly spelt
out. Indeed, as the author highlights: ‘the phrase “‘new modes of governance” already
lumps together too much, con ating processes that carry quite di erent features, and
operate in di erent elds’.4 ‘Methods like OMC’ – an expression the author o en uses
1 M.Dawson, New Governance and the Transfor mation of European Law – Coordin ating EU Social Law
and Policy (Cambridge University Pre ss, Cambridge 2011), p.16.
2 Ibid., p.12.
3 Ibid., p.4.
4 Ibid., p.12.
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