Traditions and Change in European Administrative Law

Book excerpt: The background to this collection of paper is formed by the changes in contremporary society. In modern-day western societies it is the thought that individualism trumps collectivisim. There is change from the paradigm of hierarchy to a paradigm of cooperation. This effects administrative law, which is traditionallly top-down, but is slowly accepting and incorporating mechanism of negotiation and bottom up involvement of stakeholders and concerned individuals. The contributors to his volume investigate, these changes in administrative law and provide an assessment as to whether and to what extent they are reflected in the way judicial review of governmental action is shaped. The analysis covers the EU and a number of EU jurisdictions (France, Germany, United Kingdom, the Netherland, Italy and Romania.) representing different administrative law traditions and being differently responsive to change. To provide an outside comparision, the US administrative system is also covered. Book jacket.