Berthold Rittberger is Professor and Chair of political science and contemporary history at the University of Mannheim, project director at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES), and adjunct Professor at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch (NZ).

Arndt Wonka is field coordinator and postdoctoral researcher at the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) and external fellow and project director at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES).

Preface 1. Introduction: Agency Governance in the European Union Berthold Rittberger and Arndt Wonka 2. The Creation of European Regulatory Agencies and its Limits: A Comparative Analysis of European Delegation Mark Thatcher 3. Regulatory Networks and Regulatory Agencification: Toward a Single European Regulatory Space David Levi-Faur 4. The Policy-Making Structure of European Regulatory Networks and the Domestic Adoption of Standards Martino Maggetti and Fabrizio Gilardi 5. Agency Growth between Autonomy and Accountability: The European Police Office as a 'Living Institution' Madalina Busuioc, Deirdre Curtin and Martijn Groenleer 6. EU-Level Agencies: New Executive Centre Formation or Vehicles for National Control? Morten Egeberg and Jarle Trondal 7. Perspectives on EU Governance: An Empirical Assessment of the Political Attitudes of EU Agency Professionals Arndt Wonka and Berthold Rittberger 8. The European Parliament and the Legitimation of Agencification Christopher Lord

The rapid proliferation of EU agencies represents one of the most significant changes to the EU's organisational set-up in past decades. At the same time, this development has significantly affected regulatory policy-making in the EU.
This volume assembles the most renowned scholars in the field to address the key themes and challenges that agency governance in the EU poses to effective and legitimate policy-making. The first theme addresses the causes and dynamics of the creation and design of regulatory bodies in EU governance, focusing not only on EU agencies but also on alternatives to the agency format, such as regulatory networks. Second, once agencies are established, the book goes on to explore the consequences and trajectories of agency governance. How effective and autonomous are EU agencies? How does EU agency governance transform existing patterns of executive governance in the EU? Third, the book addresses the design of EU agencies as independent, non-majoritarian institutions poses pressing questions with a view to their legitimacy and accountability.
The volume appeals to scholars and practitioners interested in the development and transformation of executive governance in the EU.
This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.