Political science and the ‘Cinderellas’ of economic and monetary union: payment services and clearing and settlement

So far, political scientists have paid very limited attention to the 'plumbing' of economic and monetary union (EMU), that is payment services and the clearing and settlement of securities. This paper evaluates the analytical leverage of 'bureaucratic politics' approaches - in particular, the 'bureau shaping' theory - against the empirical record of a variety of policy initiatives taking place in the two fields mentioned above. It is argued that an adapted version of the theory of bureaucracy sheds novel light on to the policy process and the bureaucracies involved in it, namely the Commission and the European Central Bank. This research also highlights the politics involved in these seemingly 'technical' activities.