European transboundary crises and EU agencies: Examining board members' attitudes towards crisis involvement

Abstract

The European Union continuously faces crises on a continental scale, such as the 1996 and 2000 “mad cow disease” crises, the 2008 financial crisis, or the 2015 refugee crisis. Within this context, institutions including some European Union agencies (EAs) have emerged as repositories of plausible mechanisms for potentially reacting to such transboundary crises (TBCs). Against this backdrop, this study examines the role of EA management boards— the agency decision-makers par excellence—in the context of TBCs as potential loci for contributions to crisis resolution. We assess board members’ attitudes toward two aspects of crisis management, namely decision-making and coordination, and analyze them through several independent variables. Our study seeks to understand if board members’ professional backgrounds and the institutional designs of EAs influence perceptions of these agencies’ performances in TBCs. This study is based on two original resources: a survey and a biographical database of current management board members.