Introduction: Cross-level comparison

The aim of this chapter is to prepare the dependent (section 2.2) and independent (section 2.3) variables – as identified in the introduction – for the empirical analysis conducted in the case studies of chapters 3 to 5. Our approach to the analysis of compliance differs from other research in the field. Unlike the bulk of pre-existing studies, we aim to explain compliance by comparing similar rules at different levels. The main reason for our comparative approach is that it allows us to select cases based on variations in the independent variable and thus to approach our topic in a quasi-experimental fashion. Although the comparative method promises to provide new insights by systematically focusing on the distinction between politics in the nation-state and politics above the nation-state, we are well aware that the literature advances a number of reservations to such an approach. Some argue that the EU is a too specialized polity and therefore cannot be compared to either a nation-state or an international regime. Caporaso (1997: 1) has summarized this view: “Processes of integration in Europe are specialized, and qualitatively different from processes elsewhere. The historical thrust of the EC is so novel that it truly represents a Hegelian moment, a novelty that, however prescient in terms of future developments, has no current analogies.