In Search of the Worlds of Compliance: Promises and Pitfalls of Quantitative Testing

Abstract: The "worlds of compliance" typology as developed by Falkner/Treib/Hartlapp/Leiber (2005) builds on ideal-typical procedural modes of domestic adaptation to EU directives. Recently, the Journal of European Public Policy (JEPP) has publishedan interesting article discussing this concept. At closer inspection, the analysis presented by Dimiter Toshkov results in some support for, but also some criticism of, the worlds of compliance. His statistics-based approach gives us the opportunityto raise several issues of crucial importance for the entire scholarly community in the field of EU implementation research. Among these are the problem of choosing adequate indicators, of using reliable quantitative data, and of appropriately applying domestic politics approaches and veto player theory. These discussions are of general interest also for a very practical reason: similar methodological choices are rather common in current European integration research.;