Attitudes and approaches to Europeanisation

This article seeks to investigate the attitudes and approaches adopted by UK civil servants as they undergo Europeanisation processes and accommodate the demands arising from membership of the European Union, a supranational tier of governance. Drawing extensively upon interview source material, the analysis reveals the extent to which the traditions and approaches of individual departments can shape their own particular forms of adaptation. At the same time, however, such variation and flexibility as there is only takes place within broader parameters common to Whitehall as a whole. In particular, such parameters revolve around apoliticism and traditions of neutrality within the UK civil service.