Youth OMC: Coordination of Governance to Deal With the NEET's Needs

Abstract

Ever since its introduction in 2000 the open method of coordination

(OMC) has generated a lively debate about its functioning and effectiveness.

Many studies have indicated that it is very difficult to prove causal relations

between the OMC and policy activities of the Member States. Nonetheless, it is possible to study the influence of the OMC at ideational level. This study aims to do this for the Youth OMC. Against the background of the creation of epistemic community and the theory of discursive diffusion a comparative discourse analysis is conducted between the EU’s Youth OMC and Dutch youth policies. The discourse analysis for both levels focuses on youth (un)employment measures, in particular those addressing young people who are neither in employment, education or training (NEET). The study finds that in case of The Netherlands, the outcome of the analysis gives a mixed result on the influence of the Youth OMC. In terms of ideas and sort of measures the Youth OMC and Dutch youth policies are remarkable similar, especially concerning measures serving the NEETs needs, however, these have been developed at different moments in time. Overall The Netherlands seems to run ahead of the EU, and as such possibly influenced the Youth OMC (bottom-up policy diffusion). In one period of time (2004 – 2009) though, the Youth OMC and Dutch policies appear to be synchronous.