Genealogies of European governance Introduction

How should scholars study European governance? In this introductory article, we situate our genealogical approach in relation to existing research by summarizing the key features of major strands of research on European governance, clarifying their primary similarities and differences, criticizing their underlying commitment to the development of comprehensive theories and articulating the beginnings of an alternative research agenda. This alternative research agenda pivots away from attempting to develop a comprehensive theoretical model of European governance to one oriented towards investigating the beliefs and narrative traditions that shape Europe's governing practices. We conclude by previewing the contributions to the Special Issue, drawing attention to the overlapping themes addressed in each article, namely the influence of social scientific rationalities, elite narratives and local traditions in contemporary forms of European governance.