The brief review of the broader research context in which this study is embedded has revealed the analytical problems present in the development of an analytical framework aimed at accounting for the impact of European policies on national administrations. On the one hand, this can be traced to the fact that the leading questions analysed in those related areas are only partially congruent with the analytical focus underlying this study. On the other hand, research deficits emerge from theoretical gaps prevalent in these fields. This does not imply, however, that in order to address these analytical deficits we have to start from point zero. Bearing in mind that explaining administrative transformation is mainly a matter of studying institutions and institutional change, there is a certain common sense in putting institutions at the heart of administrative analysis (Lowndes 1996: 181). In this context especially, the approaches linked to the concept of the new institutionalism have contributed to a renewed interest in the study of public administration. At the same time, the new institutionalist approaches play a prominent role in Europeanisation research, and, more recently, have also been applied to implementation research (Knill and Lenschow 2000).

New institutionalism does not constitute a single and coherent body of theory, but comprises many different streams of argument. Although sharing a basic common assumption, namely that institutions do matter, there are a variety of conceptions of how, why and to what extent institutions make a difference.