EUPLEX
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Investigating policy complexity in the European Union

The complexity of its laws and regulations has repeatedly been identified as one of the key challenges facing the European Union (EU). Both among EU scholars and practitioners, it is well recognized that the complexity of EU law not only implies enormous managerial challenges for those in power and their bureaucracies, but also involves significant cognitive burdens on the public. Yet, how can we distinguish rather simple from more complex policy content empirically? How can we explain variance of policy complexity across issue areas and time? And how does this complexity matter for political processes in the EU and the Member States?

The Emmy Noether Research Group "EUPLEX - Coping with Policy Complexity in the European Union", led by Dr. Steffen Hurka at LMU Munich, addresses these important questions. On this website, you can find information about the project, the research team, current publications and data. Feel free to contact us at hello@euplex.org for any further questions or ideas for cooperation.

"There is a simple rule here, a rule of legislation, a rule of business, a rule of life: beyond a certain point complexity is fraud."

P. J. O'Rourke, satirist and journalist, in the National Press Club (as cited in The Sydney Morning Herald)

News

2020-07-02 New project publication in the Journal of Common Market Studies

"Legal Instrument Choice in the European Union" by Steffen Hurka and Yves Steinebach is out now (online first) in the Journal of Common Market Studies. The paper explores the determinants of legal instrument choice by the European Commission. Find more details on the paper on our publications page.

2020-02-11 Paper presentation at the EPSA 2020 Annual Conference in Prague

Steffen Hurka and Max Haag will present the paper "The evolution of policy complexity in the European Union" at the 10th Annual Conference of the European Political Science Association (EPSA) in Prague, 18-20 June 2020.

Update: The 2020 EPSA Annual Conference has been moved online. The conference paper presentation by Steffen Hurka and Max Haag is scheduled to take place on 18 June 2020, 16.00 UTC+01:00 as part of the EU politics panel session 2. For more information as well as the program schedule, please see the EPSA website.

Update 2: Find our presentation slides on our publications page and join the virtual conference presentation live via Zoom on 18 June 2020, 16.00 UTC+01:00.

2020-02-05 Panel "Coping with Policy Complexity in the European Union" at the ECPR Standing Group on the European Union

Steffen Hurka will chair a panel on "Coping with Policy Complexity in the European Union" at the ECPR Standing Group on the European Union, which takes place at Luiss University in Rome, 3-6 June 2020. The panel is part of the "Institutional and Procedural Dynamics in EU Decision-making" section. Find out more on the ECPR website.

Update: The 2020 ECPR Standing Group on the European Union has been cancelled.

2019-10-01 New project researcher

Maximilian Haag officially joins the project as a doctoral researcher. For the next three years, Max will be a part of the EUPLEX team and write his dissertation on decision-making in the EU at LMU Munich. The team welcomes him and wishes him good luck!

2019-08-12 Project presentation in EU Research

A new article summarizing the project’s objectives is out now in the EU Research magazine. Find it on Issuu.

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2019-07-10 New project publication in European Union Politics

"Policy complexity and legislative duration in the European Union" by Steffen Hurka and Maximilian Haag is out now (online first) in European Union Politics. The paper analyzes the influence of policy complexity on the duration of the decision-making process in the EU. Find the paper and replication data on our publications page and an accompanying blog post on the LSE EUROPP blog.

2019-07-01 New project student assistant

Nelly Keusch joins the project as a Student Assistant. For the next months, Nelly will help lay the foundations for the project to run efficiently.

2019-04-01 Project start

As of today, the DFG-funded EUPLEX project is officially up and running! For the next years, Dr. Hurka and colleagues will be busy collecting, evaluating and analyzing data on policy complexity in the EU.

Funding

EUPLEX receives funding from the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) through the Emmy Noether program. Details can be found on the DFG Gepris website.

Meet the EUPLEX team

Team photo
The EUPLEX project team in January 2020
EUPLEX is located at the Geschwister-Scholl-Institute of LMU Munich and receives funding through the Emmy Noether program of the German Research Foundation (DFG).
EUPLEX is a DFG-funded research project located at the Geschwister-Scholl-Institute of LMU Munich. Imprint & privacy notice