Information Asymmetry and Preference Heterogeneity: Analysis of the Development of ‘Soft’ Law Measures in the European Union Before and After Enlargement

There is a general idea promoted in the EU governance literature that the amount of more flexible modes of governance has increased over time. This trend is seen as a consequence from the membership and policy expansion of the Union. This paper investigates the mechanisms behind the production and development of soft law. On the one hand, ‘soft law’ is likely to be used when policy-makers do not have the necessary knowledge about the actual effects of common policy in different national contexts. On the other hand, ‘soft law’ is often regarded as the only realistic political alternative that could address policy gaps, where a lack of political consensus on a subject precludes the development of binding legislation. To test general expectations, this paper relies on an extensive data set of all non-binding legislative instruments adopted by the EU between 1967 and 2013.