Crossing the normative chasm; a case study analysis of EU-US regulatory change in the new transatlantic marketplace

catpub08; geudbu/10.2008; This research project focuses on the growing public policy dimension of EU-US economic relations during and since the transition of the 1990s and examines the coexisting phenomena of regulatory conflict and cooperation in transatlantic policymaking. While highlighting the substantive shortcomings of the high-profile initiatives of the New Transatlantic Agenda, particularly their failure to produce joint norms and standards, the thesis analyzes the political, economic, and social interests which shape public policy agendas from outside the formal policymaking process and eventually lead to normative convergence or divergence. Comparative case studies on the dispute over "Genetically Modified Food" and the adoption of the first-stage EU-US "Air Transport Agreement" serve to illustrate these opposite policy outcomes by tracing the evolution of regulatory standards in two prominent sectors of the transatlantic economy