Liuc Papers, n. 116, Serie Economia e Istituzioni 8, Suppl. a novembre 2002 1 EU ENLARGEMENT AND MULTI-LEVEL GOVERNANCE IN EUROPEAN PUBLIC POLICY-MAKING: ACTORS, INSTITUTIONS AND POLICY LEARNING Christos J. Paraskevopoulos Preface One key objective of the project during the reference period was the critical analysis of the different approaches and schools of thought in the debate on multi-level governance in the EU public policy- making, institutional and policy learning, adaptation and Europeanization of the domestic structures at both the national and sub-national levels of governance. Thus, a draft paper has been prepared by Dr. C. Paraskevopoulos (LSE team) and was subsequently circulated among the partners aiming at setting off discussion, constructive contributions and comments. The paper was also one of the foci of discussion in the workshop with externals organised in the framework of the second project meeting at LSE London (26 February 2002). The final version of this paper presents the state of the art of the knowledge and research conducted in the field and provides the basis for a common understanding of the different theoretical approaches among the project partners. Introduction: Globalisation and the changing conception of Governance Governance has become a state of the art but also a popular concept in much of the contemporary debate in the social sciences. A key reason for this popularity is attributed to its capacity for capturing the multiplicity of actors, institutions and relationships involved in the process of governing, given that the narrower term ‘government’ has gradually become almost obsolete, having been outflanked by rapid technological, social and political changes of the last quarter of the century. In particular, the globalization of economic activities, information and finance, as a consequence of the rapid technological change and the gradual transformation of the technological paradigm since the late 1960s has led to the emergence of a changing, globalizing new political economy, characterised by increasing, internationally- driven, interdependence among the actors, accompanied by high levels of risk and uncertainty, which