Policy-making in a system of multi-level governance -- the Commission of the European Community and the restructuring of the telecommunications sector.

This article examines the dramatic restructuring of the telecommunications sector during the 1980s and continuing through the present decade. The European Commission has worked hard for that restructuring, but the activities of the Commission can hardly be explained using the standard analytical repertoire found in international relations or comparative political research. After a look at the state of current integration theory, the article analyses the role of the Commission in the field of telecommunications taking the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) initiative as an example. It argues that the Commission has worked eagerly and successfully to extend its prerogative. The Commission's approach, however, has swung between the impulse to develop industrial policies under the active guidance of the Commission and the aim of liberalizing and deregulating markets. Policy-making in the Community is not straightforward, but takes place in a system of multi-level governance. Levels of policy-making and interdependence are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]