The EU's Lisbon Strategy: Evaluating Success, Understanding Failure

The launch of the EU's Lisbon Strategy in 2000 aimed to make the EU 'the most competitive and dynamic knowledge based economy' by 2010. The Strategy introduced a strong competitiveness narrative in EU politics and set benchmarks for a variety of policy areas in which the EU had little or no formal legal competence. Member States were encouraged to share 'best practice', report progress and participate in peer review. The governance structure of Lisbon also marked a major break from the traditional 'community method'. The EU's Lisbon Strategy provides the first comprehensive theoretical and empirical evaluation of the Strategy by some of the most notable scholars of EU studies from across the Social Sciences. Drawing evidence from a broad range of policy areas affected by the Strategy, the volume explores two questions: how far did the Lisbon Strategy achieve its own objectives and why?